By some stroke of luck four contestants of the hunt stumbled upon the winged frolicking, but stopped immediately when they saw two blackbirds around them.
Holding their breath, the four contestants tried to make themselves unseen till they made eye contact with each other.
Gesturing towards each other to meet up, the four contestants huddled up in a circle a distance away from the frolicking winged.
"The problem right now is the blackbirds." said Aleron.
"From what we all know those blackbirds should have the power of ice, if their summoning of hail is anything to go by" said Esmira.
"But how do we attack them without them burrowing into the ground from the commotion?" asked Rassera.
"How about we freeze the ground?" Aldric asked and his three other companions looked at him.
"Right now the birds are feeding and their neck is stuck deep within the ground, if we freeze the ground, their necks will remain stuck and they wouldn't be able to burrow into the ground." said Aldric.
"But what do we do about the black birds?" Esmira asked curiously.
"Use the wind to blow them away." Aleron said calmly.
"And while they are distracted, someone can attack them." Rassera said with her eyes widened in realization.
"Okay." Esmira said, nodding.
"Now that we understand the plan, who is doing what?" Esmira asked the three other contestants.
Taking the birds by surprise, Esmira and Aldric called the wind the same time Aleron and Rassera froze the ground. Confirming the winged were effectively trapped, Aleron and Rassera turned their attention to the blackbirds who were fighting viciously.
Unfolding his chains at his sides, Aleron used his chains that froze the minute he grabbed them, to decapitate the neck of the black bird at the same time Rassera jumped from a tree branch and plunged her fist into the heart of the other black bird.
In the arena
The crowd roared at the display of raw power shown by Rassera and Aleron.
"Despite her cute appearance, Rassera shows that she has the blood of the Marchioness running in her." The announcer said and the Marchioness eyes shone with pride.
"And this commoner with no noble background has also proved himself as a worthy contestant for the hunt." the announcer said and the crowd roared.
In the plains of Dracia
The contestants divided the birds evenly and once they dispatched of their captured winged, numbers flew into the air to show how many they had killed.
With time quickly depleting, other contestants ran further into the plains of Dracia in search of the winged. In her desperation Torvonna McQueen was lucky to stumble on two winged that she dispatched easily and Noverth Rain managed to dispatch one after the winged put up a fight.
While others ran, Princess Marina walked without a care in the world with her eyes trained on the ground.
Back in the arena
"What is she doing?" someone whispered from the audience.
"While all the other candidates seem to be running towards their prey, the third star of the empire, Princess Marina seems to be taking an afternoon stroll." the announcer said and the audience laughed.
"Does she think she can relax because she is the princess?" someone whispered in the audience.
Under the canopy of the Royals.
"She is good at this." the Marchioness whispered from her place at the right hand side of the Sun of the empire.
"Very few seem to know what a hunt is." The Earl said at the left hand side of the sun of the empire with a drink in hand.
"I feel so much shame right now." the Viscountess said at her position at the right hand side of the Earl.
Flashback
Estania and Gale, Age 7.
"How can you not know the basics of hunting?" Gale said, as he laughed at Estania's pouting face.
"I almost had it." Estania said through gritted teeth.
"By sheer luck." Gale said teasingly and Estania pouted at him.
Slobbering up, Gale said "Look my dad always said that when you are hunting anything you have to take a look at the terrain." as he opened his arms wide.
"Look for footprints made by an animal, look to see if the grass has been ruffled by something running through it or if a stick had been broken by something running over it." Gale said as he bent down to inspect a paw print of a bunny.
"From these paw prints," Gale said as he pointed at some more paw prints.
"I can tell that the bunny is running from something." said Gale.
"How?" Estania asked in confusion.
"Because of the distance between this paw print and that one." Gale said with a confident smile.
Flashback end
"40 minutes left." Princess Marina thought as she bent down towards the tattered grass.
Looking further for more prints or more disturbance to the soil, Princess Marina noticed that the earth in the area she was standing in was soft.
A boom sounded and Princess Marina turned her head in the direction of the sound only to see Maldareth's name in the sky.
"I have to hurry." Princess Marina thought as she followed the softened earth.
Keeping her eyes peeled, Princess Marina followed the softened earth till she came across a horde of the winged and four black birds.