The King's Mistress

Chapter 118: Score!

As soon as their feet touched the ground, Cassandra put some distance between herself and Sierra. She called for her mare, Princess, who came to her immediately. Despite having a rough fall to the side, the mare only suffered minor scratches.

Midnight returned to Sierra too, nuzzling with her and letting her know she was alright. Cassandra did not want to admit it, but this was the second time Sierra had saved her life.

It might even be considered three in total, counting the fact that she had saved her twice in the last few minutes. Cassandra glanced over to her as she dusted herself off.

"Just because you saved me, doesn’t mean I’m going to let you have this kill, Sierra. I hope you know that," Cassandra said coldly as she took her bow and notched an arrow in it.

Sierra sighed as she shook her head while maintaining a smile.

"I would be surprised if you did. But it doesn’t mean I’m not going to help you either," she said to her as she mounted back onto Midnight.

Cassandra thought she had heard it wrong. But when Sierra informed her she would help to distract the deerphant so that she could take her shot, she realized she had heard it right the first time.

"Why are you helping me?" She yelled to Sierra just as she was about to gallop into the distance.

She turned back to face her.

Sierra shrugged her shoulders, "It just seemed like the right thing to do."

With that, she turned her attention back to the deerphant and delivered her promise. While Sierra kept the deerphant distracted, Cassandra pulled on her bowstring and took aim.

Once the deerphant was within range, she calmed her palpitating heart and took in a deep breath. The arrow in her bow emitted a soft glow. With the power she had received from her Patron, Twylight the Pegasi, Cassandra launched the arrow into the air.

One arrow became ten in the blink of an eye and all of them hit the deerphant with precision. The deerphant let out a blood-curdling cry before collapsing onto the ground. Cassandra mounted onto her mare and made her way over to see her successful kill up close.

Remembering the incident with the wild boar, Cassandra drew two more arrows and launched them into the air. Both arrows hit the deerphant in its vital points, ensuring it breathed its last.

"Good to see you’ve learned something from your past experiences," Sierra chuckled as Cassandra dismounted beside her.

"It was a compelling lesson," Cassandra mused. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com

Seeing that the deerphant was killed, there was no reason for her to stay any longer. As such, Sierra got back on her mare, ready to head off to find her prey. Time was against her and she needed to find more prey soon if she wanted to win.

"I’ll be on my way then," she said to Cassandra, "Best of luck, Your Highness."

She didn’t wait to hear Casandra’s reply, for she had assumed the princess would not likely say anything in return. But as Cassandra watched her back view, galloping into the distance, she let out a sigh.

"Best of luck to you too, Princess Sierra."

At the spectator grounds, Alistair was growing increasingly worried. A chime had just been played throughout the forest. It indicated to all contestants that there was only one hour left.

They were at the halfway mark.

Alistair looked over at the scoreboard. Sierra still hadn’t scored any points at all. He was growing increasingly worried, not just for the scores but for her safety too. He wanted to get out of his seat and looked for her.

But he knew he could not make such a rash move. Not only was the royal court watching closely, but the nobility were too. Any action he took now would be carefully watched.

As such, he employed a different method of surveillance instead.

"You called for us, Your Majesty?"

"What’s Princess Sierra’s status?"

Before the test even began, he already had his shadow guards monitor her movements. He wanted to know where she was and to make sure she was safe. It was clear that there were those who wanted to harm her.

The archery test was perfect grounds for them to do so. The shadow guard came close to Alistair and whispered in his ear. What he had to say put Alistair at ease a little, but he was still worried.

After he waved for them to leave, Roxine and Diane wondered what news his shadow guard had to share. At first, he didn’t want to say anything, but Roxine insisted on knowing.

"You’re not the only one who’s concerned about her, Alistair. Albeit, we’re worried about her for different reasons," Roxine teased him as she hid her expression behind her lace fan.

Alistair shifted in his seat as he chuckled before relaying the information to them, "Sierra’s alright. It seems like it was part of her strategy to hunt the beasts that would give her the most points. But her plan was compromised, so she’s forced to take a bit of a detour."

"A detour?"

"Her hunt had been taken by someone else," Alistair said as he pointed it out on the scoreboard.

At the same time, he was relaying the information to his Queen, the scorer changed the scores for Princess Cassandra, putting her in the lead by a huge margin. Her deerphant kill gave her over 200 points.

"Oh dear," Roxine gasped worriedly as she looked at the scores.

Cassandra had over 287 points now while Sierra was still at 0. It did not look good for Sierra at all.

"I’m sure she’ll figure something out," Diane said reassuringly. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

"Is it even possible for her to win at this point? She’ll need at least 300 points to win. And that’s if Cassandra does not have much luck in the next hour or so."

"She’ll be alright. I’m sure she would’ve figured it out by now," Alistair replied, relaxed.

Amongst the beasts that were released into the forest grounds for the test, there were some that traveled in herds. Each kill came with its own set of points. If Sierra could successfully track and hunt down the herd, not only would she get points for each kill, but she would also get points for hunting down the entire herd.

This could turn the tides for her.

"Sweetling, you’re a smart woman. I’m sure you’ll be able to figure it out," Alistair muttered beneath his breath.