Not well at all

You along With Mara, Sara, and Galeon escort Alexia to the archery range, but before the event starts you decided to have a little fun as you spot Barticus and Victor coaching their champions.

"Lady Sara could you fetch me three apples from the stand over there and Lady Mara grab me a bow and three arrows." As the twins head off on their tasks, you turn to Galeon with a wicked grin on your face. "Ask my Oath-brothers if they would mind helping me with a little fun before the event begins." Alexia has seen similar displays in the past and she is not happy.

"Bruce, you're not think of doing something reckless." Alexia is by your side holding your arm firmly not letting you step away. "As your Spymaster and friend I strongly advise against this." Before she can finish twisting your arm (literally) the twins return with the requested items looking excited and Galeon drags your blood-brothers over who look extremely uncomfortable likely knowing what you plan on doing. Alexia still has not released your arm and you decide to cut the distances of your demonstration to safer shots.

"Ok, Barticus take this apple and go stand 50 paces down the range and place it on your head; Victor you at 100 Paces and Galeon 150 paces." None of the three hesitate for more than a heartbeat before walking down range. Alexia stares daggers at you, but you ignore her and turn to pump up the crowd while they're getting into position.

"Lords and Ladies, welcome to the first event of today's Games." You voice carries easily to even the furthest tents, "Before we start, some entertainment to lighten the mood." By this time Barticus has turned to face you placing the apple on his head, the crowd realizing what the entertainment is going to be falls silent listening to every word. "My first shot will take the apple off the head of Crown Prince Barticus at 50 paces followed by one off Crown Prince Victor's at 100 and finale shot, if there have been no unfortunate accidents to this point," the crowd laughs loudly at your interjection, "will pluck the apple from the head of Galeon the Giant at 150 paces." Alexia releases your arm and steps back to stand by the wide-eyed twins she has a tight smile on her face.

The deafening roars of thousands of drakes threaten to give you a splitting headache you close your eyes briefly before reopening them. You are no longer on the grassy bank of the River Elaina; before you see a mountain paradise full of wild drakes soaring peacefully without any pesky Riders controlling them. The incongruous sound of human laughter in this idyllic setting captures your attention. You turn and see a dozen men in extravagant tunics sipping wine boasting and laughing, each one with a collared **** kneeling subserviently at his feet with heavy chains newly riveted around their wrists and ankles. The cadre of noblemen are focused past you and laughing at some sport further down the mountain. Following their gaze, you see three warriors armed with heavy drake-bows shooting at the peacefully gliding drakes who scream in pain when the barbed shafts strike them and the trailing wires tearing through the delicate membrane that forms their wings.

Without hesitation you lift your bow, and fire an arrow straight at the first of the three men's head before he can fire his heavy crossbow into a low swooping female. You repeat this two more times with the same result before you turn your attention back to the men who only now seem aware of your existence. The laughter ends abruptly as each of the noblemen are locked in place by the ferocity of your anger.

Your vison blurs momentarily, as it clears you see the crowd rise to their feet and hear their cheers turn into a roar of excitement as the last arrow from your bow neatly knocks the apple from Galeon's head. Blinking your eyes once or twice to collect your thought, you turn back to the stands. The purpose of the demonstration you remember as your mind clears was to remind everyone of Kalion's military capability; it seems to have worked, even the lord Marshal looks impressed.

From behind you come the exuberant cries of delight from Mara and Sara, but when you turn to wave at them you see immediately that Alexia is not at all pleased. Turning back to the stands you gesture to the fields leading down to the river not quite as complacent as you were a moment ago, you officially announce the start of the contests.

"Now, I am pleased to announce the start of the Games with contestants from each of the United Cities, Apollopolis, Coreli, Biessoi, and Kalion with prizes for the top 3 archers." A gesture to a table standing near the stands directs everyone's attention to the awards. "The top archer gets one hundred gold coins and a masterfully crafted bow, second place 50 gold coins plus a bottle of fine wine from my collection and third 10 gold coins and a finely engraved silver goblet. The archers will have six shots and the winner will be the one with the shaft closest to the center," you pause increasing the drama of the moment.

"Now good luck to all the contestants, and let the contest begin!"

As the first contestant approaches the range you take your seat next to Sara and Mara to watch the event. With Alexia's first shot you know something is wrong. As you anticipated, all the archers are highly skilled, but you've seen Alexia shoot better than any of them. That is until today. She's not the worst of the archers, but she's not even in the top six. First place goes to a long-armed bowman from Polares, second place to a scared veteran wearing the colors of Heliopolis and in third with a Corelian archer whom you remember from your days in the Coreli court.

With the end of the Archery tournament, you about to move to the arena for Wrestling and see Galeon avenge Kalion's first loss when out of the corner of your eye you see Alexia stalking away clearly upset with her poor performance.