Chapter 14
This was much more familiar than Anna had expected. It was a bit like a school sports day, village fete, and carnival all thrown into one—although a lot more dangerous. No three-legged races or weirdest vegetable competitions here. Instead there was fighting with staffs, fighting with swords, shooting very real arrows and throwing very real axes, not to mention wrestling and fist-fights.
Despite the air of jollity that had descended on the field beside the castle that had been set aside for the games, she couldn’t help but feel the undercurrent of tension that flowed between the three families, even if the spectators were blissfully oblivious to it.
Of course, it wasn’t helped by the fact that she seemed to have been adopted by Lady Maria, who had no intention of letting her get out of the ax throwing following her boast in the great hall.
So she found herself being all but dragged over to the roped off area where three targets had been set up for the competitors. The targets were not simple wooden circles with painted bullseyes, rather they were crudely stuffed figures of men like scarecrows, their centers marked with a large red blotch indicating the heart. Lovely.
A rowdy crowd had gathered around the area, cheering and jeering the competitors in equal measure. One by one, the contestants stepped up. They were all men, of course. All tall. All well-muscled. All clearly having done this before.
“Um. Maybe this isn’t such a good idea,” Anna muttered.
But Lady Maria wasn’t listening. “Marshall!” she shouted at the balding man who was organizing the competition. “We have a late entrant. Anna here would like to take part.”
The balding man scratched his head and many of the spectators turned to look in her direction. Damnation. Why couldn’t she just have kept her big mouth shut?
She looked around for Emeric, desperate for some kind of support, but he was nowhere to be seen. Already down at the archery targets, at a guess. She was on her own.
“She does?” the balding man asked, looking perplexed. “Are ye certain ye ladies are in the right place? There must be a sewing competition around here ye might be more suited to.”
Snickering laughter erupted at his words and annoyance replaced Anna’s misgivings. She marched up to the bald man and prodded him in the chest. “Yes, actually,” she snapped. “I’m damn sure I’m in the right place. You got a problem with that?”
The man blinked, taken by surprise.
“I suggest ye think very carefully about how ye answer that question,” Lady Maria said to the man, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms. “Or ye might just learn exactly what us women can do with a sewing needle.”
The man licked his lips and glanced between the two women. Then he gave an oily smile. “Of course! Everyone is welcome. Please, come join us.”
Anna gave a tight nod and stepped up to the line of contestants. They eyed her curiously but they were wise enough not to make any smart comments.
She watched as each contestant took their turn, aiming their axes at the targets and letting them fly. Some hit their marks with precision, others missed entirely—to the delight of the spectators. There were gasps and applause in turn.
When it was finally her turn, Lady Maria gave her an encouraging pat on the back before handing her the gleaming ax. It was heavier than she had expected—heavier than the ones she’d thrown on the team-building exercise—and she held it awkwardly in her hands as she stepped up to the line. A murmur went through the observers and she could feel her cheeks growing hot under their scrutiny.
“All right, lass,” the bald man said gruffly. “Ye know how to hold one of these?”
Anna glanced down at the heavy weapon in her hands, taking in its coarse wooden handle and gleaming iron head.
“I’ll manage,” she snapped, irritated by his condescending tone.
She thought back to the training she’d been given by the guy at the ax throwing center when they’d gone on the team-building exercise. She could remember the basics—grip tight, aim straight, throw hard—but she had a feeling it wasn’t going to be quite that simple. She squeezedher fingers around the handle, sucking in a deep breath as she prepared to launch it.
The first round was predictably disastrous. Anna’s throw veered widely off course, only just missing an unfortunate spectator. The crowd laughed good-naturedly, and even Anna joined in, brushing off her embarrassment with a sheepish grin.
The second round was somewhat better. Her ax still didn’t hit the target, but this time at least it went in the right direction, embedding itself into the ground a few feet in front of it. The crowd roared in approval, and Anna’s grin widened, feeling a rush of exhilaration. This was fun!
By the third round, she was starting to get the hang of it. With a fierce concentration and a resounding grunt, Anna let the ax go—and it flew straight and true, embedding itself deep into the edge of the target. The crowd cheered and Anna raised her arms in victory, laughing.
Her joy was short-lived, however, as one of the other competitors she hadn’t noticed before walked over to her end of the line. Standing tall and imposing, with a fierce glint in his eye, she recognized the smoothly handsome features of Duncan MacDonald. A murmur of anticipation rippled through the spectators as he bowed to Lady Maria then stepped forward to take his turn.
He gave Anna a wink as he lined up his shot, taking a moment to aim before launching the ax. It spun end over end through the air with deadly precision, embedding itself into the heart of the target. The onlookers erupted into a thunderous applause and Anna felt a sinking feeling in her stomach.
Yes, of course the good-looking, perfectly muscled son of a lord would be good at this, wouldn’t he?
Anna couldn’t help but feel slightly deflated. Still, she wasn’t here to win, she reminded herself. She was here to prove a point—that just because she was a woman that didn’t mean she couldn’t do this.
Duncan bowed to his audience before retrieving his ax with a wide grin. He returned to his place in the line, next to Anna.
