All I Need ✔️

Chapter 56

Third Person POV

Cassius racked his brain. What could Ari possibly want? He could have asked Cassius for pretty much anything and Cassius would have provided it. Why was he in this tournament? People died in this tournament every year – what was worth risking his life?

"Isn't he one of yours?" King Theodore asked.

Cassius nodded, still dumbfounded.

"What does he want?"

"I don't know," Cassius replied truthfully.

"Is he any good?"

"He's one of my best sword fighters," Cassius answered. At least, that was what his generals were always telling him. Cassius hadn't seen him fight since the first time they met. He was fantastic at the time, and he imagined his lieutenant had only improved since then.

His father leaned back. "Well maybe this will actually be interesting."

The announcer stepped out of the tournament space. "Champions, begin!" he yelled.

Immediately, the large man threw one of the small men into the wall. The crowd cheered. The celebration was short lived, however, as the fifth fighter pulled his sword and stabbed the large man. He fell, his blood leaking onto the white snow. The fifth man then turned to the second, who ran away.

At the same time, Ari and the fourth man were engaged in a swordfight. The fourth man was good, but Ari was better. In a short amount of time, he was able to disarm the fourth man, and hit his helmet with the butt of his sword, knocking the man unconscious.

The fifth man at that point had caught up to the second, stabbing him as well. He then turned to face Ari.

The crowd grew quiet, in anticipation of the last two fighting. The two walked towards each other, meeting in the middle of the arena. Then, they began to fight. The crowd began to cheer once again. Cassius found himself on the edge of his seat, hoping that his lieutenant would emerge victorious.

The two appeared evenly matched at first, until the fifth man's weakness became clear. He was a good fighter, but he was slow. Ari faked left and quickly hit right, sending the man falling to the ground. The Lieutenant stepped on top of the fifth man's chest, pointing the sword at the man's throat.

"And we have our first semi-finalist!" the announcer said, stepping into the arena and holding up the lieutenant's arm. "You go off and rest, and we'll have our next match once we clear this group out of here!"

The next five groups battled it out, one victor emerging from each. Cassius recognized a few of the other competitors, but no one he knew as well as Ari. Aron won his match easily, defeating all of the other five contenders.

"We'll take a short break for lunch and resume this afternoon with the semi-finals and finals. So go warm up, and come back in an hour," the announcer told the crowd.

"Well sons, shall we go back to the castle for lunch?" the King asked the three of them.

"You all go ahead. There's something I need to do," Cassius said.

Without waiting for a response, Cassius merged into the crowd and headed for the contenders' tents. He wandered around until, outside of one of the tents, he finally found Ari.

"Lieutenant," he said, greeting him.

"Your highness," Ari replied, startled. "You're not supposed to be back here."

"What are you doing?" Cassius asked. "What do you want? Is this about your mother? Is she sick again? I can have the castle medics look after her."

Ari shook his head. "No, your highness."