So I Married a Sorcerer (The Embraced #2)(97)

“Each horse will have to jump those hurdles,” Gunther explained. “Then the rider has to grab one of the spears from that rack.” He pointed at a rack on the far end of the field below the royal box. “After they’ve hit one of the straw targets over there, they’re done.”

She spotted three straw figures that looked like men.

“So you see,” Gunther boasted with a smile. “It’s a test not just of speed, but of strength and accuracy, too.”

The carriage pulled to a stop beneath the golden box, and Gunther led her up the stairs while a hush fell over the stadium and everyone bowed and curtsied.

As they settled in their golden chairs, the carriage drove away and disappeared through the tunnel. The crowd settled onto their benches, and the noise grew loud once again as everyone made their bets.

Brigitta clenched her hands together in her lap and sent a prayer to the twin goddesses to watch over Rupert.

Loud horns blasted in the distance.

The race had begun.





Chapter Twenty-Five

As the contestants raced down the wide main street of Lourdon, Rupert kept his horse in the middle of the pack. The pounding of hooves on cobblestone mixed with the shouts of people who lined the streets and leaned out windows from the upper floors of ramshackle buildings.

“You can’t come in last,” Stefan had told him repeatedly. “But don’t come in first, either. It’s not about winning right now, but surviving till the end.”

Rupert had agreed. It wasn’t hard to make sure the top three contenders stayed in the lead. Each contestant had his number pinned on his back, so he could clearly see One, Two, and Three charging ahead. They had obviously been given the best horses from the stable.

He had decided to aim for fourth or fifth place, and the plan was working well until they turned onto a narrow road. And then it hit him.

Flashes of memory spun around him. This was where his father had died. Sweat broke out on his brow, and he found it hard to breathe. This was where his horse had reared after being shot by an arrow. This was where he’d fallen, and Stefan had yanked him up on his horse. And the alley over there was where Stefan had raced away with the young prince in his arms.

“Seven!” Four shouted at him, and he reeled back to the present. His horse had slowed to a walk.

“What the hell are you doing?” Five yelled.

The contest. “Let’s go!” Rupert spurred his horse into its fastest speed. If he wanted revenge for his father, he had to survive each round. If he wanted to protect Brigitta, he had to win the last round.

He glanced to the side to see Five keeping up with him. Four and Six followed closely. They’d looked out for him. They hadn’t left him behind.

By the Light, he would not let these men die.

They charged across the bridge. In the distance, he could see the top three entering the tunnel to the stadium.

He urged his horse to go faster.

By the time they entered the stadium, the top three had already cleared the hurdles and were throwing their spears. Number Two, the general, hit his target first, and the crowd roared.

Rupert soared over the first hurdle. Five, Four, and Six followed. They made it over the second hurdle, although Six’s horse knocked the top bar off.

The third hurdle was the highest. Rupert cleared it and was halfway to the rack of spears, when he heard a crash and the excited jeers from the crowd.

Six had fallen, and his horse was wandering away. Rupert raced after the horse and caught its reins, then led it back to where Six was slowly rising to his feet.

“Get on!” Rupert ordered.

Six gave him a forlorn look. “I’ve already lost.”

“You’re not a loser! You’re finishing the race. Get on!”

Six scrambled onto the horse, and Rupert slapped the horse on its rump to get it running toward the rack of spears. Four and Five had already taken the remaining spears, and they tossed the last two to Rupert and Six.

Four and Five raced toward the finish line, hurtling their spears and each hitting a straw dummy. As soon as they moved off the track, Rupert and Six threw their spears.

Six’s spear landed a few feet short of the mark. But Rupert had put a strong wind behind his spear and it shot across the field with so much power, it pierced straight through the straw dummy and knocked it off the pole. The straw target flew back six feet, slamming into a wooden wall in front of the spectators, with the spearhead embedded in the wood.

The crowd went wild.

*

A short time later, the seven contenders were led onto a raised platform at one end of the stadium, next to the tunnel. Rupert and his companions had been warned about this. The long platform had seven trapdoors, and they were painted on top with the numbers One through Seven. At the end of each round, the contestants were supposed to stand on their number and wait for one of the trapdoors to open. The one who fell through would be the loser and immediately taken to the dungeons where he would await execution.

As Rupert climbed the stairs to the platform, he noticed One, Two, and Three already in place, glaring at him.

Damn, he shouldn’t have used so much wind. He’d let his fear of losing get the better of him. Losing would spell disaster for Brigitta, and he was desperate to keep her safe.

He stood on the trapdoor marked with the number seven. Across the stadium in the golden box, he spotted Brigitta, sitting next to the king. She looked pale. Lord Argus was there, talking to the king. No doubt, they were determining the loser.