A/N- Thanks everyone for the positive feedback so far! I'm really enjoying writing this! So here's another chapter! :3
It didn't take long for Taz to reach the castle, as Jose was one of the fastest horses in the land. She dismounted him and quickly opened the saddle bags, pulling out a sealed letter and a large bundle of scarlet fabric. Cursing quietly, she tucked the letter into her pants pocket and shook the fabric out, revealing a long, scarlet red dress. She ducked behind a tree and undid her belt and then pulled off her tunic. She pulled the dress up over her head, thanking her lucky stars that it was long enough to cover her leather pants and hunting boots. The silky fabric hung from her shoulders, and gathered at her waist before flowing outwards past her hips and onto the ground. She hated dresses, found them to be inconvenient and irritating. Never-the-less, she had to obey protocol. Sighing, Taz reached behind her and pulled the lace which was attached to the built in corset of her dress and tightened it, causing her to wince. She hated that even more, but she could think of several people who would just moan at her if it wasn't laced correctly.
Muttering a curse under her breath, Taz bundled up her tunic, belt and knife, and stuffed them into Jose's saddle bag. She then took his reigns and guided him back to the stables, hoping a certain stable boy would be present. She paused before she reached there, and her shoulders sagged in slight relief when she saw Tootsie Noodles cleaning out the stables instead of the usual stable boy. Tootsie wasn't the brightest of people she had ever met, but he didn't ask awkward questions and had made it a habit to be nice to everyone he met, even if that person didn't deserve it. He was tall, with messy chestnut brown hair and light blue eyes. He was well-built, like a true country boy, which was exactly what he was.
She glanced around warily, to make sure no-one else was around and quickly led Jose to the stables, keeping her expression neutral and passive when Tootsie looked up with a grin.
"Howdy there M'lady!" He said in a chipper voice, and Taz simply nodded in reply, leading Jose back to his pen before unclipping his saddle bags. "Mighty fine day, aint it?" Tootsie asked cheerily, and Taz nodded again, picking up the bangs and throwing them over her shoulder with a grimace. She turned, and jumped when she realised that Tootsie had followed her in, and she took a breath to calm herself.
"Don't do dat." She muttered, irritated, and Tootsie looked abashed.
"Sorry ma'am I was just wonderin', is all…Is Miss Mega alright?" He blushed slightly and Taz could only stare at him for a moment. She knew very well who Mega was, it was her parents personal bodyguard. A cold unfeeling female who never smiled or showed any emotion. She was cold and uncaring, the epitome of a true killer. Why on earth did Tootsie want to know how she was? Surely he wasn't… Taz had to resist hitting the palm of her hand against her forehead and simply sighed.
"I don' t know, I haven't seen her. I can find out though, on one condition." Taz warned, narrowing her eyes slightly.
"Anythin', m'lady!" Tootsie said eagerly, nodding his head earnestly.
"Don't tell anyone I was here." Taz told him flatly, and headed out of the stables with him following behind her.
"Sure thing ma'am, you can sure count on me! I'll take it to m'grave!" Tootsie called after her with a wide grin. Taz shoot her head as she moved around to the back of the castle, looking up at the vines which climbed up the side of the wall, stopping at an open window. Quickly, Taz began to scale the vines, making sure the bags stayed securely held on her shoulder, and pulled herself up onto the window ledge before dropping down into the room with a groan.
"Oh my gosh, Tasmine! You're back!" An overly excited voice squealed, and Taz sighed, dropping her bags down and kicking them under the large four poster bed that lay in the centre of the room before turning to look at the speaker.
It was a young, blonde girl around the same age as Taz, yet taller than her. (that however wasn't saying much, as Taz herself was significantly small in stature) She was wearing a light periwinkle dress which went up to her knees and flowered prettily from her shoulders and was tied around the waist with a darker blue ribbon. This was February, self-proclaimed best friend of Taz, and Taz had absolutely no choice in the matter what-so-ever, she didn't even understand why February liked her so much. They were complete polar opposites. Whilst Taz was short with dark skin, hair and eyes and was quite aggressive in nature, February had pale skin light blue eyes and hair the colour of sunshine. She was also easily excitable, loved dresses and being fawned over. She was a neighbouring Princess who had only been in the kingdom for a few months by invitation of Taz's parents, the King and Queen. Taz's actual name, was Tasmine Felicita Lopez, and she was the princess of the kingdom, though it was something she didn't enjoy at all. Her hunting choice was merely a way of escapism, a way to practice her ambitions. All Taz wanted in her life, was to be a knight, and to fight alongside them as the first female member. It was a dream, nothing more, but Taz knew if she ever got the chance, she would take it in a heartbeat, and that was why she trained.
"Si, February, I'm back." Tasmine said in a distracted manner, sitting on the bed to pull off her hunting boots and pull on a pair of scarlet pumps instead. "But I'm busy."
"Did you give Buggy my letter?" February asked eagerly, getting al little misty-eyed at the thought of her secret lover. That was another thing about February, she was a hopeless romantic. She knew all about Taz's escapades in the forest, and promised not to tell, just as long as Taz delivered letters to Bug from her and vice versa, which Taz didn't really mind doing since she always went into town anyway.
"No, not yet, I'm working on it." Taz replied dryly, and moved towards the door quickly, before February grabbed her arm quickly, stopping her.
"What do you mean?" February asked with a small pout, but then proceeded to lace Taz's corset even tighter, causing her to let out a slight gasp and clench her fists. "And you can't go out like THAT! Jeez, Tasmine! You like, are so lucky you have me here to guide you."
"Okay, I really don't have time for a makeover, February, I have to save jour boyfriend from being arrested." Taz muttered, pulling away from February and opening up the door. February simply reached out and placed a simple silver tiara up onto Taz's hair before frowning deeply.
"What? Tasmine, no wait, please!" She called out as Taz adjusted the hair ornament and quickly ran out of the room and down the corridors, hitching up her dress so she didn't trip, as she was prone to doing. She didn't really have any time to answer February's questions, because she knew the knights well. Whatever Bug had supposedly done, if it was enough to get him arrested, she had to act fast. Heading down the main staircase, she almost tripped but cursed and managed to regain her balance before she headed down into the dungeon, where the jail cells were held. She heard voices up ahead and moved towards them, dropping her dress again before she reached the actual cells. She could see some knights inside one of the cells, questioning a terrified young man. He had wavy dark brown hair and dark brown eyes with tanned skin. He was wearing a simple bark brown tunic and pants combo, like the majority of the villagers in the town.
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"Is that what Bug looked like when he had a human body?" Danny asked, cuddled up into Taz's side somewhat, and her arm was lightly draped over his shoulders.
"Si, It was." Taz replied with a nod. "But stay quiet now, Or I won't finish telling de story."
"Sorry," Danny grinned up at her impishly, and then glanced up when there was a knock on the door before it opened, and Up stuck his head inside, shooting them a smile when he saw them. "Hey Up!" Danny said with a bright smile as the Commander moved into the room, sitting at the bottom of the bed.
"Hey sport," Up replied, reaching over to ruffle his hair. "Whatcha doin'?"
"Taz is reading me a story from her book, but she's making her, you and the others as the main characters!" Danny replied with a grin, and Taz pulled a face. "You wanna listen?"
Taz shot Up a warning look, but he simply smirked and lay back on the bed, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.
"I think I've got some time t'spare." He noted casually, and Taz scowled at him. "Take it away, Taz."
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"Hey," Taz said quickly, gripping onto the bars of the cell as she looked in on them. Bug's face immediately relaxed into an expression similar to relief, and the knights stood up tall and respectfully. Her eyes flicked across the guards until they came to rest on Knight Commander Up, who obviously wasn't happy with the situation that was occurring. "What's going on here? Why has he been arrested?"
"Your highness," One of the knights noted, looking somewhat nervous at addressing royalty. "We caught this man at his store, selling flowers which had been stolen from the royal gardens."
Knight Commander Up rolled his eyes, and Taz had to hide a smile at his obvious annoyance. He must know all about the stupid laws that existed in the Kingdom and she figured he must get annoyed with having to enforce them. His eyes locked onto hers momentarily, and he seemed stunned by something. Cursing herself internally, Taz switched her gaze to Bug and the knights, pursing her lips slightly and adopting an annoyed expression.
"He didn't break any laws." She snapped, irritated. "I gave him permission to sell dose flowers." It was true, after all. She didn't care about the flowers, and Bug was a sort of gardener to them, which was how he and February had met in the first place. "So, if jou don't mind, I'd like it if jou would release him, since he didn't commit any crimes."
The knights looked somewhat bewildered, and then turned to look at Up, who simply shrugged, looking at Taz critically.
"Let him go," Up finally decided, shrugging his shoulders. It made no difference to him, and Taz had a feeling that Up had known that Bug was innocent all along, but he just had to go through the formalities of questioning him. Taz breathed a sigh of relief when the knights took the shackles from Bug's wrists and opened the cell door for him. Quickly, Taz gripped onto his wrist and began to pull him out of the dungeon, wanting to get as far away from Up was possible.
"She is one strange princess," One of the knights noted, slowly shaking his head as he watched the two of them leave.
"Watch yer mouth," Up muttered, but he was distracted, thinking about the Princesses' eyes, and how similar they were to the girl in the woods.
"Tasmine, thank you so much." Bug muttered as Taz led him through the maze of corridors towards the main doors of the castle. He, like February knew of her secret, but was quite happy to keep it to himself.
Taz simply shrugged and pulled up her dress slightly and Bug blushed and looked away, causing her to roll her eyes.
"Relax, I'm wearing my pants." She told him dryly, and pulled the letter out of her pocket. She handed it to him and dropped her skirts, and nodded her head at him when he opened the door.
"Thanks again, Tasmine, I won't forget this," Bug promised, smiling at her and gripping the letter tightly.
"Yeah, yeah." Taz muttered and gestured for him to go. "Now quickly, before de knights arrest jou for loitering, or something."
Bug nodded and quickly headed out of the castle, leaving Taz watching him with a small frown on her face. Idly, her thoughts drifted back to Knight Commander Up, and the expression on his face when their eyes had connected. She sincerely hoped he had just noticed similarities and didn't try to figure anything out. Heaving a sigh, Taz closed the door and headed back towards the staircase. It was time to face February again.