The Fall Ball
Chapter 67

(Rose)

“Me??” I ask Ash.

“Yes you, as future Queen you are the most important member in the kingdom. We need guards that can protect you at all costs. Without you, the kingdom has no future. And with your gifts from the goddess, their wolves will want to find and protect you.” Ash tells me.

“What if something happens though? We still don’t know when the war is coming,” I say.

“You will be in a safe location being watched by the current guards. Nothing will get close to you that isn’t supposed to,” He says.

“How can you be sure? Accidents always happen.” I say.

“I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”He tells me while kissing my forehead. “Its time to go, my dad is getting upset waiting on us.” He says with a laugh.

I nod, and let him lead me out of the room.

“We will be okay. You don’t need to worry, it’s just a little game. Plus, you have me to help protect you.” Lilly says to me.

“I know, I’m just worried. But I am glad I have you as back up if needed.” I say to her with a smile.

We walk out the palace doors and over to the stage where the King and Queen are waiting and all the pack members are standing around waiting. Seems like we are the last two to arrive. The King smiles as he sees us.

“So, I know that we are all excited about what is going to be happening today. We are going to start with the games. We are going to start with the mud run. This is a 15- mile trail that we have marked with yellow tape. The contestants are to stay in their human form. If any contestant is seen shifting or taking short cuts, they are disqualified.” The King says while looking over the crowd.

“This year we have 100 contestants that are participating. And we have 50 openings on the guard teams. This is only the first of the 3 events taking place today. So the first 75 to pass the finish line are going to take place in the second game. The second game is archery.” He continues to say to everyone.

“The final game is the most important. The hunt. After the archery contest, we will have 50 contestants. With the hunt, you will be searching for a very important member of the Kingdom. The first person to locate her will be trained to become her personal guard.” The King says while looking at me.

“This year we have a very special person among us. You will be hunting the future Queen of our kingdom.” He says with a smile.

The crowd talks amongst themselves, I lean in closer to Ash. He wraps his arms around me.

“Are we ready to begin the mud run? Those that are participating, please step up to the starting line.” The King says.

I watch as members from every pack walk up to the starting line. Others wish them all good luck, some with mates get a k**s. Soon enough, the starting line is full of all the contestants. There are rows of members lined up behind one another. The trail is about 20 feet wide, not giving a lot of space for them all.

“The trail starts here and loops through the woods. The finish line is right over there,” The king says while pointing about 50 feet to the left of the starting line. “There are guards along the trail to keep an eye on everything. Please play fair, no need to be hurting one another.” The King tells them all.

The contestants all get ready to take off. The King shifts into his wolf and lets out a howl. And all the contestants take off.

From here, I can see how muddy and slippery the trail is. Through the trees, you can see the contestants running and jumping over the fallen logs. As the contestants run, the King shifts back into his human form and walks over to Ash and I.

“I know it is a lot to take in, but as you are the future of our Kingdom. It seemed best for you to be the one hunted this year.” The King says to me.

“I understand that, but I worry about the war that is coming,” I say.

“You will be safe. You will have guards around you, to be sure of that.” He says to me.

The King and Ash talk a little more. I watch as the contestants run on the trail…

It doesn’t seem to take long, before the crowd is cheering and yelling with excitement. We look to the finish line and see that some of the contestants are starting to get close.

I gasp in surprise. There closest to the finish line, about to be first, is my father.

“I didn’t know that he was competing,” I say to the King, watching my father, covered in mud, be the first to finish the mud run. And right there to greet him, is my mother. She runs up to him and gives him a hug. I smile as I watch the two of them.

“I told him I could find him something to do in the kingdom. That he didn’t need to be a palace guard to stay here. But he wanted to be sure that he could protect you no matter what.” The King says with a smile.

We watch as all the other contestants come out of the woods. I smile when I see Craig come through. He was number 25. He runs over to us.

“Congratulations,” I say to him.

“Not yet, I still have another game to play to be sure I am a palace guard and two games to play if I want to be able to bother you all the time.” He says with a smile while nudging my shoulder with his.

Before we can say anything else. The final contestant runs out.

“Thank you all for doing such good job. The 25 of you that did not make it to the next game. Please be sure to try again in a year or so.” The King says with a smile. “Now on to the next game. Please follow me.” He says.

We all follow the king along the woods. We get to an empty field where they have placed large round bails. They have painted targets on the hay bails.

“So first up is knife throwing. We have two target distances for this. The first is 15 feet and the second is 25 feet away. You each get to throw one knife at each target, and we will go in order from the way you came out of the woods. So, Mac, you are up first.” The King says.

I watch my dad walk up and grab his two knives. He throws the first one and gets dead center. He turns to me with a smile. He throws the second one and also gets dead center. He turns and walks over to me.

“See, I knew practicing with you would come in handy one day.” He says while giving me a hug.

“You can throw knives?” Ash asks me.

I blush.

“With no wolf, I couldn’t train with the others. So my Dad would do one on one training with me at home. Throwing knives was always my favorite,” I say with a smile.

We watch as the other contestants throw their knives. Most were pretty good, but a few missed the targets completely. After the last throw, the King speaks.

“So after the knife throwing, we are down to 68 contestants to move on to the bow and arrow. Again, we have two distances and you get two arrows. The first is 100 yards and the second one is 130 yards. We have to eliminate another 18 contestants. If we have too many that pass this, we will add in a third target and give a third arrow, at 160 yards.” The King says to us all.

I watch my dad walk up to the line. He hits the first target, dead center. He hits the second target, dead center. He comes over and stands next to us again. We watch the others go. A few missed the second target, so they were disqualified.

I watched Craig walk up to the line. He also hit both targets dead center. I was shocked, I knew he was a guard for our pack. But I did not know what his skills were.

By the last contestant, we still had 55 participants. The King smiles.

“Looks like we need a third target for all of you,” He says, while some of the guards move the hay around. The contestants all line up.

I watch as they all took their turns. My father and Craig both hit a few inches below the center of the target. As the others go , everyone hit the bail of hay, except for 5. They came up too short of the bail.

“Well, now that we have our 50 guards for training. It is time for the hunt, this is to see who will become Rose’s personal guard. She will take off into the woods, leaving her trail. She will have 15 minutes to find her hiding spot. After her 15 minutes are up, I will send in 20 others to try and mess up her scent trail.” The King says.

“They will have 10 minutes to walk and run all over the area. When they come out, the 50 of you will be sent in. The first one to find Rose will be trained to be her guard,” The King says with a smile.

“Rose, are you ready?” He asks me.

I nod my head at him, “Yeah,” I say. Ash gives me a quick k**s.

“Then you may go. Your time starts now.” The King says with a smile.