Disclaimer: I do not own Jane and the Dragon. Thank You.
Note: This will be a multi-chapter story... but since I do not have all of the chapters ready it will probably take a while for me to upload. This is my first free night in two weeks.
Thanks to anyone who takes the time to read this... now on with the story.
Important note: Jane is about 17 in this fic and Gunter is about 19!
It had been your typical day in Kippernium, the sun was shining, the birds were singing and all was right in the world… Inside the great hall there was a meeting going on about who should go and defend a local village from a pack of ravenous wolves.
"Perhaps our young squires should take care of this unpleasant matter. The training might do them good…" Sir Theodore bowed his head in respect and said, "Of course your majesty! I do think that they could benefit from such an exercise… though I cannot spare both of them. What do you think Sir Ivon?" He smiled and said, "Ach, I think the training would do them a world of good. Though as you said we can't spare them both, perhaps young Gunther should go, the villagers might be more responsive to that and we could use Jane in helping us prepare for next week's celebration." Sir Theodore nodded in agreement, "An excellent idea Sir Ivon." Gunther's head shot up at this, "What!!! I mean of course Sir Ivon I would be most honored to take on this assignment." You could see the shock in Gunther's eyes when he heard this… for a moment anyways before he decided he might score big if he agreed with everything they said. Sir Theodore replied to Sir Ivon's statement, "Very well then! You'll leave first thing tomorrow morning and Jane I'll see you in the morning as well, we've got to get an early start if we want to finish everything I have planed." I bowed and said, "Very well Sir Theodore."
Normally I would have pressed the matter of how, "The villagers might be more responsive to that" but seeing the look on Gunther's face made me change my mind very quickly. He appeared in every respect to loath the idea and while I did want to go Gunther's dissatisfaction would make up for this countless times over. We had, as of late, been on worse terms than usual… if at all possible and I was feeling exceptionally cold towards him, despite the strange feeling I had felt a few days past; or perhaps that's where are worsening relations started…
Gunther and I had been practicing with staves in the yard, as we had done for years when Gunther somehow managed to sweep his stave under my feet and lay me flat on my back. He was standing over me with his usual triumphant look when time seemed to stop I looked up at him and felt something I had never experienced before. He must have felt it too because his look of triumph faded and was replaced with some new unknown emotion, and he just stopped in his tracks and stared at me. We stayed like this for a few minutes before the sound of Jester's bells knocked me out of my trance, I stood up hurriedly as though the ground had been on fire and nodded to Jester before leaving the yard as quickly as I could.
After that day there had been something different between us, I could never put my finger on it but I had been increasingly uncomfortable when I was around him and that turned into an ever growing number of insults on both our parts.