Chapter 7

The next morning, Jane prepared herself to meet the king. She always wanted to look her best when speaking before the king; the reason she did not know herself. But in any event, Jane made sure she was bathed and clothed properly, and she took time to brush her unruly red curls, that after being washed, had entered a state of complete wildness (even wilder than its usual state). Dragon had, of course, poked his large head through the window and made a comment, which Jane ignored, as she was too occupied with preparing her announcement to the King. She finished relatively quickly, and upon doing so, headed out of her room and into the already bustling outdoors.

Outside, Jane saw Smithy pushing in a cart of metal and wood from the market, which Gunther was "helping" him pull. The raven-haired squire was barely raising a sweat. Rake had the job of planting the new trees for the castle, and Jester was helping him unload, carry, and plant the trees into the moist ground.

Pepper was preparing food for a banquet coming up soon; Jane did not know this by seeing her, for Pepper was inside and not visible from Jane's standpoint, but Jane had already known it was coming up.

Down the steps she descended, heading for the garden in which she would speak with the king. She waved to Rake and Jester on the way. Rake waved back, smiling, "Hello, Jane!" while Jester only looked up at her, and then returned to his work. Jane sighed. He must be angry with me about telling him to back off, she thought.

The king was already there, waiting. From the look on his face, she knew she was late. "Jane," said the king. "You are late, are you not? A knight must be punctual."

Jane bowed upon entering his presence and replied, "I am sorry Your Majesty."

The king nodded, accepting her apology, and continued. "I hear you have a report for me."

"Yes, I do. Yesterday I was patrolling the woods and encountered what I think the villagers were afraid of."

"The intruders?"

"I doubt there are any intruders," she said as the king's face became worried. Clearly he had no idea what there could be besides intruders. "I sensed Dark Magic."

Upon her voice speaking those words, the king's expression became one of immense worry, confusion, and anger. "I shall speak to Theodore, for I have no idea of how and when to approach the predicament. Thank you for reporting this to me, Squire Jane."

Her leave having been given, she bowed and turned back in the direction of her room, where she waiting for a certain green somebody to arrive. Within minutes, she spotted him flying in the distance towards the castle. He saw her and quickened the pace in which his wings flapped, and landed on the wall seconds later. "Good morning, short-life. Talking with your king, have you?"

"Yes, Dragon. And about something important."

"And that important something would be…"

Jane grimaced as she spoke the words that named the horrible thing. "Dark Magic."

"Dark what?"

Jane, confused, said, "Magic, Dragon. Have you never heard of it?"

"Yes, I have heard of it. Short-lives talk about it."

"Well, Dark Magic is something very bad."

"How bad?"

Jane grimaced once again. "Worse than you could ever imagine."

Dragon, looking down, decided to change the subject. "Shall we go on patrol?"

"Certainly," Jane replied, and they flew off once she had mounted onto him.

Jester looked up from his work in the gardens to see her fly off. He was somewhat angry, but mostly heartbroken, for he couldn't stand her being angry at him. Had he pushed on her too much? No. So why did she snap back? Jester pondered for a second before coming upon the answer. Gunther. As he returned to his work, the blue boy was bluer than ever. And as he watched from his spot in the gardens Gunther come into the practice yard and begin practicing his swordsmanship, Jester became green with envy.

Rake, seeing Jester halt his work and glare towards the practice yard, asked, "Jester? What is wrong?"

Jester looked up at the towering gardener and said in a sarcastic, bitter voice, "Nothing. Everything's just wonderful."

Gunther noticed Jester glaring at him and returned the glare, harsher. Jester slightly raised the pitchfork he was using to loosen the soil as to make a threat. Gunther simply laughed to himself and returned to his practice. Jester, embarrassed, since obviously he would never defeat Gunther, even in his dreams, returned to his work as well, but with more force as he worked at the soil. Gunther would outmatch him in any physical fight, and they both knew it.