With a final grunt, Henry lifted his sword and sent it towards Philip. The other wasn't fast enough with his shield, and the edge of the sword hit his left arm.

The blow was hard, hard enough for Philip to feel it under his protection. He cried out in pain, falling to the ground.

The crowd cheered as Henry let out a triumphant cry, while Philip laid on the ground.

The moderator made his way to them.

"Winner, Henry Golding," he said

There was a loud cheer from the crowd as Henry lifted his helmet off and waved at them with his sword. After waving, a young boy appeared next to him, and he handed over his sword, helmet, and shield. He brushed his jet black hair to the side, uncovering his brown, almond shaped eyes, before heading over to the crowd to shake their hands.

The fight moderator headed over to Philip who had just lifted himself off the ground.

"Are you alright Philip?" He asked

"I'm fine" he answered annoyed, pulling his helmet off

He brushed his blonde hair off his forehead and handed his shield, helmet, and sword to another young boy who had appeared beside him. He too headed to the crowd and began shaking their hands.

Shaking the hands of the crowd after a fight wasn't typical post-match tradition. But in order to become the new leader, you needed to win the hearts of the people. And if they had to do so by shaking their hands after a match, then so be it.

Henry was on one side of the arena while Philip was on the other. Soon, Philip was standing before Gawain and the others.

"Sir Gawain, you made it" he greeted the older man shaking his hand

"Wouldn't miss this for anything. That was some amazing technique out there son" Gawain said

"Thank you, Sir," Philip said before moving along "Morgaine" Philip greeted, shaking her hand

"Philip" she smiled back

He kept going and was now standing in front of Ryia.

"Lady Ryia" he smiled shaking her hand, his lingering a bit longer than expected

"Sir Philip" she smiled back

Neither of them was a "Sir" or "Lady", but it was a running joke between the two close friends

"I thought you weren't coming?" He asked, finally letting go of her hand

"I couldn't miss you getting beat" she teased "Plus something came up and we just had to come see you...and Henry"

"We?"

"Grandad, Morgaine, Alianor, Jacquelyn and I" she answered, pointing to the girls that were standing next to her

Philip looked at the girls, he hadn't seen them around before. He went and greeted them both.

"Nice to meet you two," he said shaking their hands "I don't think I've ever seen you girls around before"

"They're not from around here," Morgaine said

"Well...where are they from?" He asked confused

"Uh...how about we talk about this in private, with Henry, Geoffrey and Ilda" Gawain butt in

"Ok" Philip answered, wondering what Henry and their grandparents had to do with where these girls came from "We'll talk later then"

Philip moved on to the other members of the crowd, and once he had had enough of shaking hands, he left the arena, heading through the door he had come from.

As expected, he was greeted with the disappointed face of his grandmother. Her graying blonde hair was wrapped neatly, the wrinkles around her normally bright eyes were very deep, due to her present expression. His mother stood further behind, looking worried. She hated when he did these fights.

"What was that?" his grandmother asked

Instead of answering, he walked right passed. He had learned that answering her angered questions didn't help his case in any way.

"You could have won Philip! That last move was very sloppy. You were too slow" she said

She was following him now, as he headed towards a room. He went into it and proceeded to remove his fighting attire. Ilda stood outside the door, continuing to scold.

"How are we supposed to convince the people that you are capable of being a leader when you can't even win a sword fight!"

He held his tongue, feeling hurt. Sometimes he felt like she didn't know what she was saying hurt. All he wanted to scream at her was "I don't want to be ruler!"

That's right, Philip, unlike Henry, had no desire to be the ruler of the North. He had to admit, it would be really nice to be in charge of the whole North of Luxia, but he knew that this wasn't his thing, this was not his calling. But his grandmother had insisted from a young age that he had to be the ruler, and would always use the line "It's what your father would want" to get him back on track when he was particularly difficult about it.

He didn't remember much about his father, he was just a baby when he died. He always heard about how amazing he was, and how he would have made a great leader.

His father would have been a great leader, but he knew for sure he wouldn't. The fact that he had to put on this fake persona to be liked was enough proof to him that he shouldn't be in that position.

He blocked his grandmother's words from outside the door and focused on the one thing he knew that would calm him down.

Her.

He fingered the ribbon that had been tied on his wrist, under his glove. She had given him to let him know that she was supporting him throughout his fight.

Before he knew it, he was back in his normal clothes, a blue and white tunic, a belt, black trousers and a pair of boots. He left the room and was once again bombarded with his grandmother's voice. He was about to snap and tell her to shut up (like he'd only done once before and gotten a beating for it) but was stopped by one of their servants.

"Sorry to interrupt Lady Ilda," he said "But Sir Gawain would like to speak with you and Philip in the arena. He said it was very important."

"Very well," she said before turning to her grandson "Do you know what this is about?"

"No," he said with a shrug, he wasn't in the mood to explain his encounter with Gawain earlier

"Well, let's go see"

After being checked out by his mother to be sure he was OK, and her giving him a "You did great", which he really needed, he and Ilda headed back out to the arena. In the middle of the field was Gawain and the girls, and it looked like Henry and Geoffrey had just joined them.

Ilda lifted her head high as she approached, while Philip strolled lazily behind. The seats were now empty of people, he had no one to impress. Soon they made it to the group, and the tension between Ilda and Geoffrey were instantly felt. They shared a glare.

"Geoffrey" she greeted coldly

"Ilda," he said back in the same manner

She then turned to Henry, who was standing next to his grandfather. "I believe congratulations is in order"

That was all she said, and that was all she was going to say.

"Thank you" Henry replied, taking what he could get

She then turned her attention to Gawain.

"What's this all about?" She asked

"Well, I have some good news and some bad news" he answered

"I think I'd like to hear the bad news first," Geoffrey said and the others nodded in agreement

"Very well," Gawain said "Caine is back"

Eyes widened in surprise.

"When?" Ilda asked

"Where?" Geoffrey added

"Yesterday. He emerged from the ground while the Southerners were having their Sun Festival"

The dread of the news settled in for the four. Ilda and Geoffrey having faced him before, knew how bad it was. Their grandsons, having heard all the stories, knew it had to mean something bad.

Puzzlement was then on Philip's face.

"How do you know that? We have no contact with the south" he said

"These two told us," he said pointing to Alianor and Jacquelyn

"And how would they know that?" Henry asked

"Because they're from the south"

"What?" Ilda asked confused

"You're lying," Henry said, not believing it

"How did they get here?" Philip asked

"And who are they?" Geoffrey added

"This is Alianor and Jacquelyn" Gawain introduced "Alistair's and Zoricus' granddaughters"

Eyes widened once again.

"They were hiding from the Shadow Moon warriors in Merek's old shop when they found the secret passageway...which by the way was behind the Sun Queen portrait"

"I knew it" Ilda hissed like she was her teenage self again

Finding out where that passage was, was a fun guessing game for the young guardians. Ilda always believed it was behind the portrait, and it turned out she was right.

"The passage lead them to our side, in the forest. That's where Morgaine here found them"

"Well, I was led to them" Morgaine corrected

"Led?" Geoffrey asked

"This is where the good news comes in" Gawain began "Remember what the Sun Queen told Merek before she died?"

The two former guardians thought back to the time Merek had told them what had happened.

"She told him that Caine would return and when he did, one of his descendants would be the new Sun Queen" Ilda answered

"And that our descendants will be the new guardians" Geoffrey added

Morgaine stepped forward and opened the book, showing them the pages. It was then Gawain began to help explain everything. The pendant, the book, the drawings. Ryia, Alianor, and Jacquelyn watched as looks of amazement, shock and excitement filled the others' faces.

"So you're telling me that Henry and I are new guardians?" Philip asked

"Yes" Morgaine answered

"And that we're going to defeat Caine?" He added

"Yes"

Ilda turned to Philip and grabbed onto his cheeks.

"You're a new guardian" she grinned pinching his flesh

"Grandmother...can you please stop?" He asked hearing the girls giggle

"My grandson, a guardian, just like his grandfather," Geoffrey said patting Henry on the back

As pride spewed from the grandparents, Morgaine eyes glanced down at the book. She noticed there was something on the page she hadn't noticed before. On the bottom of the page, was a small arrow. She looked in the direction the arrow was pointing, but all she saw were two random people hanging around the arena.

What could it mean?

Then the thought hit her.

She quickly turned the page and was greeted with more words.

°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°

And there you have it, chapter 9. If you like it please be sure to vote and/or leave a comment. It will be much appreciated. I'll try my best to update soon.

So, I've been nominated for Best Chiklit in the Rose Awards, and I would really appreciate it if you guys go vote for me. Here's how you do it. Go to honestcritiques page and go to the Rose Awards book on the "Nominees for Best Chicklit" part. In that part, you comment "I vote for Wright Magazine by @Sheena726" or something like that and your vote will be counted. I'll put links in the comment section. For those of you who do choose to vote, thank you very much. And if you don't, that's Ok.  

Until next time.