Chronicles Of Arth: Prince Of Shadows

A whistle had blown somewhere.

"Good lord, I've got to run!" said Bagman in alarm, and he hurried off.

However, Arth barely heard him.

He was staring at the iridescent blue scales that changed hue every time the angle of light changed. It had purple eyes and had gills on the side of its neck.

If Arth would describe it, he would have no other words other than beautiful sapphire.

However, it was a very deadly sapphire.

This was the thing that he had to avoid getting.

He knew it.

Arth saw Cedric emerging from it, greener than ever. Arthur tried to wish him luck as he walked past, but all that came out of his mouth was a sort of hoarse grunt.

He didn't have to fight against an Alaskan Sapphire.

Arthur went back inside to Fleur and Krum. Seconds later, they heard the roar of the crowd, which meant Cedric had entered the enclosure and was now face-to- face with the living counterpart of his model.

"Très … éprouvant, n'est-ce pas ?" Said Fleur with a wry smile.

("very. . . . Nerve wracking, isn't it?)

The crowd screamed. . . yelled.. . gasped like a single many-headed entity, as Cedric did whatever he was doing to get past the Swedish Short-Snout.

Krum was still staring at the ground. Fleur had now taken to retracing Cedric's steps, around and around the tent.

"Oooh, narrow miss there, very narrow."

"He's taking risks, this one!"

"Clever move - pity it didn't work!"

And then, after about fifteen minutes, Arth heard the deafening roar that could mean only one thing: Cedric had gotten past his dragon and captured the golden egg.

"Very good indeed!" Bagman was shouting. "And now the marks from the judges!"

But he didn't shout out the marks; Arth supposed the judges were holding them up and showing them to the crowd.

"One down, three to go!" Bagman yelled as the whistle blew again. "Miss Delacour, if you please!"

"Bonne Chance."

("good luck.")

Fleur stopped before giving him a nervous smile.

"Merci"

("thanks.")

She left the tent with her head held high and her hand clutching her wand. He and Krum were left alone, at opposite sides of the tent, avoiding each other's gaze.

The same process started again. . . ."Oh I'm not sure that was wise!" they could hear Bagman shouting gleefully. "Oh. . . nearly! Careful now. . . good lord, I thought she'd had it then!"

Ten minutes later, Arth heard the crowd erupt into applause once more. . . . Fleur must have been successful too. A pause, while Fleur's marks were being shown. . . more clapping.. . then, for the third time, the whistle.

"And here comes Mr. Krum!" cried Bagman, and Krum slouched out, leaving Arth alone.

How would he fight against the Dragon? Kill it? Nope, that would be minus points, plus, he really didn't want to kill such a beautiful animal.

Make it go to sleep?

Hahaha, very unlikely.

Hope his invisibility skill works?

. . . . It might indeed work.

"Very daring!" Bagman was yelling, and Arth heard the Chinese Fireball emit a horrible, roaring shriek, while the crowd drew its collective breath. "That's some nerve he's showing - and - yes, he's got the egg!"

Applause shattered the wintery air like breaking glass; Krum had finished - it would be Arth's turn any moment.

He stood up, noticing dimly that he seemed to be very calm. He waited. And then he heard the whistle blow. He walked out through the entrance of the tent, a weird feeling taking over his body.

It wasn't fear, nor nervousness, but . . . . Excitement?"

And now he was walking past the trees, through a gap in the enclosure fence.

He saw everything in front of him as though it was a very highly colored dream. There were hundreds and hundreds of faces staring down at him from stands that had been magicked there since he'd last stood on this spot.

And there it stood, the Alaskan Sapphire, proud and tall, glimmering like a mountain of gems sparkling in the arctic sun.

It was beautiful.