The King and the Prince of the Central Lands took their seats on the thrones, but Charles did not sit for long: as soon as the last participant of the Tournament fell into the chair, the young man was on his feet to better see what was happening. Sebastian smiled with a corner of his lips, turning to his prince.
- Your Highness, would you help us to begin the trial?
Everyone was waiting for a signal to start, but Shaw was just walking around the cup, looking at the participants in such a way that the audience behind their backs was lying down, but kings and princes were too set up to fight to be confused by such views. But the address to Prince Charles was like a lightning bolt that went through all the participants - and they turned back to where the advisor was looking.
Junior Xavier did not wait for his father's permission, he just hurried down the stairs from the elevation on which the thrones had been set up, and took two bags from Sebastian's hands, which he held out to his prince.
- Shaw smiled cunningly at the Prix with the squint in his face, Your Highness, into their cup.
Not only couldn't he take his eyes off the Prince Charming who was wearing a dark-blue, almost black camisole today, on which the ultramarine bandage, which serves as a support for the mountaineer's sword gift, now Charles' constant companion, stood out brightly. Not one or two people thought about the color of the ribbon that could have been pulling the hair of the young heir to the Central Lands, but now the soft strands were too short to go into the tail - and still attract attention, as well as the entire Prize, with undisguised curiosity sending the contents of the bags into the cup.
The first one was heavier - it contained coins with the numbers of the participants, as in the two previous trials. They sprinkled into the cup with a ringing sound, and the prince poured everything out of the second one - a strange powder of incomprehensible gray-brown color. And as soon as the last particles fell off the edges of the bag, the cup broke out in blue flames, causing many to recoil, but not Charles, who was fascinated by the bright flashes of all shades of color intended for him along with his stone.
- Choose the first one, - Shaw smiled again, taking the young man's hand and holding it to the fire, forcing the hall to ahnut.
Perhaps someone else would have been scared, but it wasn't the prince of the Central Lands who dived his fingers into the gray flames, and immediately pulled out his hand, barely feeling the coin in it.
- King Anthony," Charles raised the coin high, showing the beautiful six on it.
- Fine," the advisor bypassed the cup to get in front of the king of the Western lands, and looked carefully into the eyes of Stark, who had even moved a little forward. - Your Highness, please tap the edge of the cup six times with your index finger.
The young man questioned the eyebrows, but turned to the huge bowl and quickly touched its edges six times with the pad of his right index finger. The flame over the cup turned white, sharply decreasing several times, and after a moment it broke out in such a way that the whole hall was lit up, causing its guests to breathe a convulsive sigh again. Charles was watching the sheet sinking smoothly in his palm, but as soon as he caught it, he immediately gave Shaw's note, and the latter, turning a small piece of parchment folded twice, once again directed his eyes at the king of the Western lands.
- Among the forests, fields and mountains,
They're running like this, two people running after each other,
And the one who will be defeated,
He's gonna pay for it with his skin.
- It's easy," King Anthony said, "with a smile on his lips. - Hunting!
The answer was too hasty, and everybody stopped, especially the western king's entourage. His courtiers were afraid of their monarch's misfire because they knew he could be self-confident - and that's the kind of self-confidence that often plays a bad joke with Stark. Shaw squinted harder, but nodded favourably at once.
- That's right.
While the audience applauded and King Anthony smirked at the prince, who continued to stand next to the cup, the counselor himself repeated the same procedure as the heir to the Central Lands before, and after the sixth blow to him fell into his hands another riddle. Shaw turned the sheet and read it carefully:
- Not the ball, but it's been going all day -
From edge to edge,
The objects are given a black shadow,
But the darkness doesn't know.