“I am glad that there are only three left; it would have been rather hard to do this and take care of the situation in Julhem. Come back here after lunch, we’ll make this final challenge quick, as I have other matters to attend to.” With that, the King rose and walked out of the room, followed by the Queen and Princess Philomena, who took a quick glance at Dominic before passing through the door.
The three suitors, Aloysius, Stanislas, and Dominic waited a few minutes before following the royal family out the door into the hall. Since he had quite a bit of time on his hands after breakfast, Dominic decided to go to the library and finish reading some of the books he had been looking at during the first challenge. He found the book he had been reading before he was called to dinner that first day, but discovered he was unable to read it. There was something else on his mind that was bugging him. After a few minutes of trying to read the book, he picked it up and left the library with determination spreading across his face. He soon found himself gazing at a familiar boy.
“Hi, Dominic. Looking for someone?” asked the teen in front of him.
“Well, I found you. I was looking for John and Gabriel, but they apparently already left. I want to know something, Camillo. Did you leave the competition?” asked Dominic.
“More or less. I asked to be eliminated, if that’s what you’re talking about,” replied Camillo.
“Why?”
Camillo laughed. “Well, for one thing, you and Princess Philomena are meant to be together. All of us could see that. Secondly, I met another girl while I was about my mission in Sisermo. I’m thinking of finding work out there so that I can be near her and possibly start courting her.”
“You met someone else? Who?” inquired Dominic.
“Eulalia, the daughter of Paul, the governor of Sisermo,” replied Camillo, a slight blush coming into his cheeks.
Dominic chuckled. “Well, that explains your elation at being eliminated. Is the same thing true for John, Gabriel, Pedro, Vitus, and Tarcissius?”
“Yes, it is. John met a peasant girl named Joan who wants to fight as a soldier. Gabriel met another peasant girl named Maria who apparently can’t wait to become a mom. I don’t know the names of Pedro, Tarcissius, and Vitus’ new girlfriends. You might want to ask them; I don’t think they’ve left yet. But I do have to get going, so I’ll see you around!” Camillo patted Dominic on the back before picking up the last of his luggage, and left down the hall.
“Yeah, see you!” Dominic waved to his friend before heading towards the other rooms. He nearly ran into two other teens as he rounded a corner. “Vitus! Pedro! Looks like I caught you just in time!”
“What for?” asked Pedro.
“To say goodbye? We’re leaving for good, you know,” grinned Vitus.
“Yeah, so, um, what do we say when we see him in a couple of weeks for school?” asked Pedro, glancing at Vitus.
“Who’s this stranger?” was Vitus’ reply. There was a bit of a pause before the three started laughing.
“Actually,” said Dominic, “I just saw Camillo, and he told me you guys met some cute girls during your missions and asked to be eliminated. By the way, where’s Tarcissius?”
“He’s already left. You heard right; we did meet some cute girls, eh, Pedro?” grinned Vitus, winking at Pedro.
“Yeah, um, yeah, cute,” stammered Pedro, his face starting to get redder.
Vitus shook his head, chuckling. “Guess that means I’ll do the talking. Seraphina caught my attention with her graceful dance in Athelea. The music moved her like the wind moves the grass on a pleasant spring afternoon.” He smiled fondly at the memory. “Pedro, according to him, met the loveliest little lily you ever did see. And a tiger lily at that, whose name is Kateri.” He winked again at his blushing friend. “Now, for Tarcissius. He met the governor’s daughter, Imelda. My group had to travel through Itame on the way back, so I got to meet her. She is lovely, indeed. She has blonde, curly hair and her eyes are as blue as forget-me-nots. So, yeah, those are the cute girls we met,” grinned Vitus. He tilted his head to look behind Dominic, and laughed. “Well, Gabriel, you seem to be popping up everywhere.”
Dominic looked behind him. There stood the servant who had sent them on their missions five days ago.
“Well, I am the head messenger,” grinned Gabriel. “Vitus, Pedro, time to go, you’re the last two.” He grabbed some of their luggage before heading off in the direction he came.
“Well, guess that’s our cue. Till school,” said Vitus, shaking Dominic’s hand.
“Till school,” replied Dominic. He turned to Pedro and shook his hand. “I’ll see you soon, Pedro.”
“See you soon, Dom,” smiled Pedro. “And good luck on the final challenge!” he shouted, as he and Vitus took off to keep up with Gabriel.
“Thanks!” shouted Dominic.
His smile vanished when they were out of sight. Right, the final challenge. I guess I shouldn’t worry about it too much, I did pass the first two challenges. Well, winning the second challenge was due to those guys wanting to be out of it. He sighed, then walked back to the library. Maybe I can finish this book now that I’ve got that cleared up.