There were about twenty-five people clustered around the raised platform that dominated the room. Standing proudly on top of the platform was none other than King Gabriel himself. He was an imposing man, with his height and hard face. He had short graying hair, which was accompanied by a light beard. His face held no signs of laughter. Gwen bristled at the sight of him, the luxury he lived in every day made the tiny houses in the rest of the kingdom look pitiful.

Directly behind the King's shoulder stood Rowan, standing formally, eyes distant. It was strange seeing him playing the role of prince. The kindness in his brown eyes had vanished, and he stood in front of the people, his face a mask of coldness. Gwen shivered, feeling intimidated by the large presence of the King and Prince.

She joined the ranks of the other competitors silently, hoping they wouldn't notice the interruption. She received a few surprised glances and a few angry glares, but went mostly unnoticed. Jennings stepped away from her side, joining the other guards behind the king.

"...there will be a total of three tasks," the King was saying to the crowd. Gwen perked up, curious of any information involving the trials.

"After every task, five competitors will be cut, leaving us with the top ten that will become guards. By rank, the champions will choose their position out of castle guard, city guard or a village guard."

Gwen crossed her fingers on both hands, a habit she had picked up from her mother for when she got excited but wasn't able to voice it.

"Finally, once the guards have been chosen, there will be an opportunity for any of the chosen, or any current guards, to fill the two open spots on my elite guard. More information on this will be given when the time comes," the King finished explaining, turning to a distinguished looking guard and nodding.

Three guards followed the King out of the room. Prince Rowan and other two remained.

"Please follow me to the training room where the first task will be assigned," the guard said in an authoritative voice. The crowd drifted out of the room, Gwen trailing at the rear.

The sound of hurried footsteps filled Gwen's ears and she spun around, finding herself staring into the chest of Prince Rowan. She gasped and took a quick step back, struggling to remain formal around the Prince.

"Sorry, Prince Rowan, I-" she broke off looking up into his eyes.

They were still angry, none of the warmness from the library remained. Gwen lowered her face, looking away from the angry prince.

"Thank you for the clothes," she said softly, walking quickly after the other trial takers.

She was pulled to a stop by a firm hand on her shoulder. Gwen froze, her heart leaping out of her chest.

Rowan smirked down at her, noticing her jumpiness.

"Apology accepted," he whispered, leading her down the halls until they had caught back up with the rest of the group.

"Rowan?" she asked timidly, bracing herself to ask about Xander. She knew full well that if it was found out that she had helped the criminal she could be arrested too, but she found herself trusting the Prince. He looked back at her, eyebrows raised.

"Do you know anything about a stolen wyvern?" she asked, biting her lip.

Rowan's eyes grew wide and he whirled towards her, anger flashing across his features.

"What do you know about that?" he growled urgently, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards him.

Gwen gasped, not expecting such an angry reaction from him. She fumbled for an excuse, her mouth dry.

"Nothing!" she stammered "I just saw one get attacked in the air near my house the other day, it didn't seem like something a real guard would do." Gwen bit her lip, hoping he hadn't heard anything about a girl who had assisted the wyvern and rider.

Rowan nodded slowly, taking in her explanation. "There's nothing to say about it," he said slowly. "The criminal was caught and punished appropriately for his actions."

"So he's alive?" Gwen asked excitedly, she had assumed he would have been hung, but if he was valuable enough to the kingdom they would keep him alive and she might be able to save him.

Rowan looked at her suspiciously, "Why are you so curious about this?" he asked, avoiding the question.

Gwen shook her head, "I'm not, I was just wondering."

They finally reached the training room, which allowed Gwen to blend back into the crowd, and escape the skepticism of the Prince.

The large room was filled with targets; three in a row at the end of the room, each with a mat where the archer would shoot.

Gwen looked at the set-up in excitement. She had been practicing archery since she was a little girl. The guard at the front of the crowd was explaining that each competitor would get three shots. They would shoot one arrow at a time, taking turns until all three arrows were shot. The five people with the lowest combined scores of their three arrows would be cut from the competition and sent home.

The guard began calling names of the first three competitors. Gwen looked on in excitement, carefully analyzing the movements of each of them.

There were two burly men, both walking with a cocky swagger to the front of the room. They had been addressed as Benjamin Cartwright and Michael Turner. The third person approached the man slowly, keeping his head down. Gwen peered at him, taken aback. He was a girl.

Gwen stifled a gasp. She had assumed she was the only girl in the competition. The girl's delicate features were determined and she picked up her first arrow. Gwen's eyes were trained on the girl; Taylor Walker. Gwen was extremely curious about the other girl and how she would do.

Taylor released the arrow and it sailed across the room, hitting the target dead center. Gwen blinked in surprise, and then began to get worried. It was unlikely that the guard would accept two females at once, even if their skills ranked above other men.

The other two men that were shooting had been fairly successful in their shots as well, neither had scored as high as Taylor, but they weren't far off.

Gwen stood alone in the crowd, waiting for her name as more and more people were called up to shoot.

"Gwen Caldwell," a loud voice echoed around the room. Gwen looked up, confidently meeting the eyes of those around her. She walked up to the mat, her shoulders relaxed. She would not show her fear to these people. They would use anything they could against her in this competition.

She lifted the bow from the bench beside her and silently groaned. The bow was much larger than the one she was used to. Hoping it wouldn't throw off her natural balance, she picked it up. Snickers came from behind her and she clenched her fist around the soft wood of the bow.

Gwen felt a shiver of anxiousness dance across her skin. She breathed in deeply in an attempt to control her nerves.

You can do this, she thought to herself. Years of practice had led up to this moment, and she was about to show these men what she was made of.

Gwen's hands shook as she lifted the bow. The chattering around her was distracting, but the room was filled with spectators, and there was no escaping the sound. Her hands shook with nervousness as she stared down at the target in the distance.

Gwen took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She envisioned all the days spent with her old bow alone in the forest. She would pick a tree and shoot her homemade arrows at it for hours. She shot them, then ran after them, gathering them all back up into a bundle.

She shot that bow until her fingers bled from pulling back the sharp string over and over again. Sometimes Kai would come out and shoot with her, archery was something he didn't mind doing. It was less violent than sword fighting, which he was very reluctant to participate in.

Gwen's heart slowed down, the peace and serenity of the memory calming her. She opened her eyes and stared down the target. She had bulls-eyed her target at a much greater distance than this, and this target was fairly large. This should have been child's play for Gwen. That is, unless her nerves got the better of her.

Gwen carefully lined up her first shot. She took a deep breath in and prepared to shoot the first arrow. Just as she was about to release the tension in the string someone let out a loud cough. Her arm jerked upwards an inch, throwing off her shot.

She looked up at the target in despair. Her arrow was just on the outer rim of the target. Quiet laughter filled her ears and she growled under her breath. She could out shoot any of these men in any other situation. Whoever had coughed was trying to throw her off.

Gwen stepped away from the mat, letting the rest of the competitors take their first shots. She slunk away to the back wall, not meeting the eyes of any of the men.

As she stood apart from the crowd two men approached her, she couldn't recall their names, but they had been the first to take a shot.

They wore matching sneers and drew themselves up menacingly.

"You think a girl like you has any chance in this competition?" the taller one asked.

"Yeah that was a pitiful performance," the other smirked, both stared down at her, waiting for a response.

"Leave me alone," Gwen muttered, not willing to stoop down to their level and give them reason to torture her even more. Not only was she upset that she might not make it to the next round, she was embarrassed and refused to meet their eyes.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you," the first boy growled at her, tilting her chin up roughly. Gwen's arm shot up to hit his hand off her but the other boy quickly intercepted her. She struggled against them, not liking the angry looks they were giving her.

Gwen started to panic, there was no way she could fight off two strong men, and she had separated herself from the group.

Just when she was about to scream for help a new voice interrupted, tone low and angry, "Do we have a problem here?" 

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Once again it is insane how much feedback I'm getting on this and I appreciate each and ever comment and vote. I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far, this is really where it picks up for me, so anyone who's read this far thank you so much.

xoxo Emma