There were too many of them and someone was making too much noise, most of the beasts had certainly escaped elsewhere since apart from a few useless birds there was no prey worthy of note. Or at least that's what Honey thought, until she saw some fresh deer footprints on the soft ground, following them she found a beautiful animal, tall and with big horns.
He pointed the already loaded crossbow at the prey, took aim well and fired the dart. The shot went off but it was not enough and the deer began to run scared. Honey chased him while reloading the crossbow, she was ready to give him the decisive blow but when the dart was about to strike someone preceded her. The animal fell to the ground, dead at the hands of someone else.
"Congratulations on your prey," said Gwaine's voice a few steps away from her, just in the direction from which the other bolt had arrived.
Honey glanced at him, "I didn't kill him, and you know it, so go and get your glory, I must go back to hunt!"
The knight approached her and then rested against a tree nearby, But you hurt him, I just finished the job. Consider it a gift from me to you.
With a quick snap Honey carried his forearm around Gwaine's neck, trapping him between himself and the tree while the other hand pointed at him with the crossbow "What does this mean?" he almost asked growling, "Do you think that because I am a woman I can't win the challenge with my strength alone? Do you think she needs a knight to help me with anything?".
The other one looked at her with an air halfway between perplexed and frightened, then he made a half-smile N-no, I didn't mean that he just wanted to be... All right, I made a mistake, I apologize.
Honey let him go and turned even further into the woods to look for more prey. "The deer is yours, take it, or leave it to the wolves if you don't want it," he said, and then turned quickly and hurled a dart in the direction of the night, but hitting the tree on which he was leaning, a few inches from his face.
Prince Arthur took first place in the hunting competition, while no one was able to do anything against Honey's archery skills, which he had learned to hold a bow before he even learned to walk.
The few remaining knights had to challenge each other two by two with their swords. Gwaine wine was beaten by Percival, who in turn was beaten by a knight from another kingdom, and so on. One by one the various knights were defeated until Arthur and Honey were the only ones left.
They were in the arena, waiting to challenge each other, while Sarah occupied the place of honor next to the prince - empty at that moment - and it would have been up to her to announce the start of the race.
"My lady, you're lovely today," Honey said as she approached the stands. Though the tone was joking, she thought what she had said, her sister was wearing an elegant blue and silver dress that seemed made for her. "Why don't you give this knight of yours a lucky kiss?"
Sarah laughed amused and bent down to leave her a kiss on her forehead. "Now go, I must announce the start of the race," he said as he moved away.
Honey also retreated to the center of the "On the Forehead" arena. Really? I'm fighting for you, you could have done better!" she said and then fixed her helmet on her head and focused on Arthur. He didn't see his sister, but he was certain that he was giggling and shaking his head with disapproval of his comment. He had no more time to think about it because the challenge began, and she had to use all her concentration to dodge Arthur's blows while trying to knock him out.
That time it was not as easy as the first, the prince had now learned his way of moving and fighting and was almost able to predict his moves, which on the other hand she was also able to do after seeing the fighting style of the blond.
They fought for a time that seemed very long, and under the midday sun, the armor began to be heavy and annoying. Honey fought well, or she wouldn't have been able to defeat all her previous opponents, but she wasn't used to enduring armor in all weather as Arthur was, also because it's not that in the 21st century there were many opportunities to wear armor. You could learn to fight, but no one could teach you the habit of certain things.
He took off his helmet and dropped it on the ground, passed a hand through his sweaty hair and saw that Arthur had also taken off his helmet and was exhausted. Perhaps there are things you never get used to after all. They both left for the charge and after several minutes Honey managed to knock the prince out.
He had won the tournament.
to be continued
