That morning the prince walked into the throne room with dirt on his face.
"Cuthbert, you are late. What were you doing my boy?" asked his father from the throne.
"Nothing father, I over slept" replied Cutherbert as he sat on his mother's throne.
"Oh?" his father cocked an eyebrow at him "then why, Cuthbert, do you have dirt on your face?"
"O-oh, I, um, well I was-" The door flung open and the prince was cut off. He let out a sigh. He did not want to tell his father he had been out in a forbidden part of the woods, and at night non the less.
"Your majesty!" it was the wizard, he was frantic.
"Aaaahh, there's a face that has not ventured far from his tower in years. Something must be wrong"
"Yes your majesty, there is a problem in the kingdom"
"Well stop holding back, what is it?"
"A friend of mine, a mystic, I have known her since she was a baby. She grew into a lovely young lady, and over time learned to harness her mystic powers extremely well. She is now one of the wisest and most powerful mystics there is. She is, or was until now, the keeper of a most valuable item. A ring, it has not been given a name for safety's sake. It is very dangerous. It only has power or usage to someone of msgic or of mysticism, a wizard, witch or mystic, even a psycic at times. In the wrong hands, it can be the worst nightmare imaginable, in the right hands it can be used for better things, but a user must be careful, for the power is great and you need to learn to control it. She had kept it safe for years and rarely used it herself. Some wizards of a dark faith have had their eyes on it for years, they finally took action. She had gotten to the point where she had no other choice, and was forced to take a risky action to protect it. They chased her into our woods, she hid it, hid it underneath the soil, out of eyes and eyes view, but still close enough to the surface that someone might find it, hoping it would not be the wrong person who does. I am surprised the didn't find it. I don't know what happened to her, but we need to find that ring and return it to her. It is only safe once in her hands, once on her finger"
The king looked pensive, takeing in the whole situation.
"Umm, wizard" the prince said shyly.
"Yes dear boy?"
"I, was in the forest last night, I went for a walk you see, and I found this" he held up the finger with the ring on it and hung it loosly in the air in front of him.
The wizard stared, brow furrowed and eyes wide. The king was shocked, more so because his son had done something so dangerous than because he had found the ring.
The wizard approched him slowly, he took the boy's hand and gently curled it into a fist. He held it as he spoke "dear child, do not let go of this item. Wear it at all times, do not take it off. You need to find out where Raina is, she is the keeper of the ring. It must be brought to her. I will contact her, tell her who has the ring. Through her power, as long as you wear this ring, it will protect you. I beg you again, for your own sake, and that of the kingdom, do not let it go, and wear it as long and as often as possible. Do you understand?"
"Yes, but, how will I find her, and how will I know when I have?"
"The ring will guide you. Once she knows who has it she can channel her energy and magic through it and into you, to guide you to her. You will know the feeling when you get it. She has a tower outside of any kingdom, in an abandoned part of the woods. If you do not find her there she will find you. You will know her when you see her, the ring will tell you. It will also tell you many other things, you should take this as a learning experiance"
"Alright" came the scared and shakey response of the prince.
"I have to go" with that the wizard ran out and back to his tower, leaving shocked and petrified people back in the throne room.
Sir Theodore and Sir Ivon, as well as the two squires, had been supervising this whole ordeal, as is their job to do so. The squires had never had anything bad happen in their career until now, and sir Ivon had never seen anything to this extent. Sir Theodore had been through a lot with the wizard, but not in years had he seen anything of this sort. The night's job is to protect the royal family and the kingdom of which they rule, but this time they had no idea how.
A jingling of bells revealed a clue hat and coat as the person attempted to make an escape.
"Jester!" Sir Theodore called. The blue boy shyly entered the room.
"You wouldn't happen to be spying, would you?"
"No Sir, I was on my way to do my job as usual in the morning when I saw the wizard barge in. I didn't know weather to leave or not, so I stood there" explained the helpless joke maker.
"So you witnessed the entire conversation, did you?" asked the king.
"Y-yes, my Lord" poor Jester was caught in the middle of one of the worst situations. Caught between being accused of spying and hearing such a story that could put the peace of the castle at risk. He was worried he would be punished for spying, however no such fait came.
"Jester, since you know of this situation you are not to tell any of the other staff about it. Doing so could disrupt the peace" sir Theodore spoke in a commanding voice.
"Yes sir, I mean no sir, I mean ... I understand" the fool fumbled with his words.
Sir Theodore went to leave, but turned and spoke before he did "I am going to speak with the wizard and develope a plan. You squires stay here with the prince, make sure nothing happens to him" and with tha he left, leaving the two youngsters to carry out their orders.
Sir Ivon left to stand guard outside the throne room, which left the king and the young ones in the room.
"Jester" the king called "I could use that new ballad of yours more than ever right now"
"Yes your majesty" Jester picked up his lute which he had rested against the wall outside the door.
"Father, what is going to happen to me?" whimpered the prince.
"I do not know my boy" the king spoke. Right after, Jester being his usual upbeat self, came in with his own comments.
"I'm sure everything will be fine your little majesty. It will all be taken care of. Now, if you want to look at it my way you can see it as the first step of a magnificent adventure, another place to travel on the journey of life"
Jane smiled, Jester could be so insightful at times. He could bring any amount of light into any situation. When even Jester is upset, you know the situation is bad. This, is what would bring Jester into this whole mess. That child better hold onto his hat, we wouldn't want it flying right off his head.
Cuthbert starred at Jester, and for the first time, it wasn't with anger or plotting a future attack, but with awe and wonder, appreciation for the wise fool. He looked on as the boy in blue entertained his father, thinking to himself about what the enertainer had said. Funny, he never thought he would hear something so smart from such a foolish mouth. Other than "this is the answer to the math problem" or "this is how you spell this word" Jester was his mentor after all, though neither of them particularly liked it. Jester preferred the arts rather than math, but seeing as the castle could not afford to hire a private tuttor and he was the smartest person without other duties, he got stuck with job. Cuthbert usually didn't see him as much more than entertainment, however now he was starting to wonder just what there was to the older child.
I would have liked to end this one without the last paragraph, but the last one had to be said and it wouldnt have fit in with the next chapter. Anyway, tell me what you think :)