One night after the knights settled in for the night including the princes and other guests, Brown remained awake a bit longer in his quarters. He stayed up in the night making acquaintance with his latest discovery. The princess' charm book. A tiny tinge of guilt tried to creep its way into his heart but he banished it.

Founders, keepers, that's how it goes, right? Who cared anyways, he had it in his possession and he would figure out how to use it.

"How do I get this to work?" Brown asked himself as he pored through the tattered book.

He now knew who it belonged to. There was no mistaking it now. He had seen princess Shinja walk around the palace with the book as if it was her second lung. During their search for her, he had picked it up. It must have fallen out of her bag or something when she was rushing to get away from everyone.

He had one particular concern in mind while he sought to make use of the book. To win the fight. The mere fact that the book only responded to the command and actions of a member from the Green family was unknown to him. He decided to sleep on it.

~*~

Early in the morning, Pink-White called his five daughters for a meeting.

"I know you have heard about the jousting match between prince Silver and prince Brown for Shinja's hand in marriage." The girls shook their heads in acknowledgement.

"You are by all means required to keep out of harm's way until this is done. Do you understand?"

"Yes father," they replied in unison.

"Please Shimki I can see you smirking and the wheels in your mind plotting. Do not take this lightly. I am not being paranoid."

"But daddy," Shimpi nearly bursting with laughter, "I was not thinking that."

"You did not say it either but I know you were thinking it."

"Bu—"

"No buts Shimpi. Because of this fight your lives may be in danger. I do not want to lose any of you. Keep your rooms locked at all times. Be in your room early. Do not wait for the dark to go into your chambers. Is that understood?" He questioned looking specifically into Shinja's eyes.

He knew she would keep tabs on her sisters to make sure it is done. The others thought it was her he was most worried about but the reverse was true.

In the confidence of her father after her sisters had left, Shinja remained behind to have a talk with him.

"Please father let the princes joust today in the evening because I'm running out of patience." She started with a shake in her voice.

"My dear daughter, have you thought about the fact that they may not be ready?" His brows wrinkled with concern.

"I have. May the best man win!" She walked out emphatically.

Pink-White smiled at her retreating back. There was no going back once her mind was made up. He would grant her wish because he too wanted to put an end to the tension. He invited Bolton into the throne room.

"Yes, your majesty. You called for me."

The king was facing out one of the windows watching closely what was happening outside, his head tilted a bit as he gazed down through the window. Bolton waited for him to turn. That never came. It seemed that the king was focused on whatever he was watching.

"Your majesty, you called for me," this time he said it a little louder that got Pink-White turning immediately.

"Bolton! Yes, yes, I called for you. It is about the match between the princes that I seek your assistance."

Bolton bowed and listened to further instructions from the king.

"You are to organize all this today in the arena. My daughter is getting impatient, so am I. I do not want it to be too late. Soon the guests of the banquet will be leaving the palace and yet I would very much like it if they attended the match."

On hearing that, Bolton turned on his heel—the moment the king dismissed him—to execute the newly found task. He gathered his men and gave out instructions on what should be done and how.

~*~

By evening they were set to go. The arena had been gloomy. You would think a battle was to be fought in there. Bolton had done a great job. Word had already spread around the kingdom that two princes were going to fight and the winner would win the youngest princess' hand in marriage.

Everyone from the surrounding villages that heard of this arrived in the arena by evening. There was chatter and rumbling throughout the arena. A huge vibration of excitement reverberated through the land. The atmosphere was tense. Expectations about the fight were made. People had rumors about what each of the princes looked like. Some thought they knew who wielded the sword better than the other.

A particular old couple, man and woman, walked around collecting bets from the audience. The man was in support of prince Brown, the woman in support of prince Silver. They used this trick to earn more bets from the audience that was now fooled into believing the two were not united one bit.

The couple had no idea either of how the princes looked like or what they were capable of—that include their ignorance of the names of these princes but in the numerous murmurings that we're going on they had picked something—they made sure the crowd knew that the reverse was true.

"Come on now, you would not want to miss out on such an interesting bet. Prince Silver is known in all the land for his sword wielding technique." It was not a sword fight but a jousting match, the crowd was too caught up in it to make note of this slip. Sword, joust, same difference.

A groggy suspicious old lady with a tattered greyish dress spoke confidently. "I tell you he is going to have that Bolton-something-of-a-man on the ground in no second with one swing."

The woman moved around the crowd whispering into their ears like a slippery old serpent. As she spoke into their ears, some pushed her away for her spittle splattered on their cheeks, in their eyes and hair.

Others were convinced enough to give her their money. All the while she smiled crookedly and continued on her way, onto their next prey.

She dared not look into her husband's eyes for fear that if she did someone might find out that the two were not pitied against each other as they made everyone think.

"You all know that woman does not know what she is talking about. Women do not know these things." That had the crowd burst into laughter. He continued.

That's it. Now I have your attention.

"I have been to the Brown kingdom before. I have seen its prince fight. I know he will win. He is good at everything; mortal combat, horse riding. Yes, even the sword. The sword, my people, that is his specialty. That Silver-something-guy does not know what is coming for him."

The crowd laughed boisterously as they put in their bets. Yes, keep them coming my dearies.

"Do not miss out on such a great bet. Put your bets in! Put your bets in! We are closing soon. You don't want to miss this. Put your bets in!" He continued to shout on one end. His wife on the other. Men and a few women put in their bets.

The other women sat alone whispering and giggling to themselves about what they thought the princes looked like.

"Do you think he will notice me from here?" A dark toned girl with beautiful curls looked to her friends for hope and encouragement. She wagged her eyebrows at them, smiling widely.

"He will notice you alright. I mean look at those eyes. They can draw a dozen boys in," the girls giggled at this remark made by one of them who was dragging her eyes all over girl one.

"Won't they be too busy fighting to notice us anyways?" Girl three chipped in with a bored tone.

Her question voiced multiple of their doubts. They all went quiet and waited for the fight to begin. They would leave it to fate.

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