Story: Of Knighthood and Marriage
Rating: Mid T
Summary: Jane's mother has had enough of Jane's knighthood nonsense. Either Jane finds a husband soon, or she will pick a respectable one for Jane. Regardless of age.
A/N: Thank you for the reviews! I really appreciate them! :D
WARNING: This chapter is kinda brutal and violent. Be prepared. That being said, I apologize if it's too much, but I don't like to hold back.
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Jane and the Dragon, and am merely using the characters for my own entertainment.
Jane refused to be a victim. No way was she going to be a prisoner. She roughly elbowed the body behind her as hard as she could. She made contact with doughy flesh and her capturer grunted in pain, but let her go rather quickly. She jumped away from the person and got on guard, ready to defend.
Imagine her surprise when lo and behold, who should be bent over, holding their stomach in agony, but the young prince.
"Prince Cuthbert?!" she hissed.
He stood up to his full height, looking put off and in pain, though his eyes still flashed anger from the limited lighting. "You dare assault the prince of Kippurnium?"
Jane rolled her eyes. She was not at all intimidated by his presence. Though Cuthbert was on the cusp of puberty at 15, he had not grown much in the past few years and had inherited his father's short stature. He just barely hit Jane's shoulders. Lavinia, on the other hand, had gained her mother's lanky, long-limbed grace and height, and Jane did not doubt that the young princess would come to surpass her brother's height given a few more years or so.
"Bow before your prince."
He was trying to be commanding, she could tell, but his voice had squeaked and cracked at the end of his sentence. His face burned red and Jane covered her mouth quickly, to keep from laughing. She quickly recovered and glared down at the prince.
"What in Caradoc's name are you doing down in the dungeons, Cuthbert?"
"I wanted to see the interrogation. Being future king and all, I should be allowed to view matters of the kingdom." He said haughtily.
Jane thought it odd how he assumed he was future king when Caradoc had yet to even announce his heir apparent, but she did not comment on it. Let the boy think what he would like to think. When a guard walked by the small corridor in which they rested, they quickly pressed themselves deep in the shadows and quieted. He passed on and Jane heard Cuthbert release a ragged sigh of relief. No doubt he was terribly frightened.
"Would your father approve of you sneaking around in the dungeons?" she said matter of factly.
He glared at her, "Would your mother approve of you sneaking around the dungeons?" he smirked, "In fact, shouldn't you be at a certain banquet right now? To honor the knights?"
She glared down at him, "Shouldn't you be at the banquet yourself? Since you are the son of the king?"
They both glared at each other, neither backing down. But Jane knew there were more pressing matters to attend to. She couldn't stay here arguing with the prince forever. So reluctantly, she backed down.
"Fine, Prince. We both shouldn't be here but we both have our reasons for wanting to see the interrogation. Let us call it a truce."
He nodded stiffly, looking around as if in search for something.
"How come you tried to hold me back?" she narrowed her eyes.
"I thought you were Lavinia."
Jane's eyes widened in horror, "Lavinia is down here?! How could you be so foolish as to bring your young, impressionable sister to the dungeons? Where is she?!"
His face colored, "Sh-she disappeared."
"You let Lavinia run off on her own?!" she whispered harshly.
He stamped his foot to the ground childishly, "I did no such thing! She ran away from me! I tried to stop her."
Somehow, Jane came to believe him. On one hand, he could have been lying to her. But Jane had played with Lavinia for many years and was very aware of the young girl's tendency and skill at running away and hiding. If Lavinia didn't want to be found, she wouldn't be. And that was a problem.
"Never mind. I want you to head immediately back to the banquet. I will search for Lavinia." She began to set off, but his nasty little chuckle reached her ears and she stopped, turning around to find out what was so amusing to the little twerp.
"Do you even know how to navigate the dungeons? Lavinia is probably watching the interrogation as we speak. Do you even know where the torture chambers and bandits are being held?" she didn't respond and his disgusting smirk grew wider, "No? Didn't think so. But I do."
Annoyed, she stepped up to him and pointed a finger in his face, "Fine. Lead the way. But we will depart as soon as we find her."
He began on a pathway, walking along the shadows on the walls. Jane followed closely behind, turning around every so often to make sure they were not being followed. It was dark and dank and musky. The smell of sweat, feces, and blood clogged the air and Jane struggled not to gag. The deeper in the dungeon they walked, the worse the smell grew.
"What happened to make you look so ugly anyway?" Cuthbert whispered over his shoulder.
Jane felt her forehead pulse in annoyance. She was certain she had not heard him right. "Excuse me?"
"I was asking why you look so ugly."
"If you were not the king's son, I would box your ears right now for your insolence." She growled.
"You're pretty rude for threatening a king."
"You are but a prince. And you are quite rude for speaking that way to the woman who saved your life from a dragon."
Embarrassed, he shut up. They quieted their talking and continued to walk in silence, often times avoiding guards who were patrolling the grounds. But after a while, it began to seem to Jane that they were just walking around in squares. Every wall looked too similar. Had they been making any progress at all?
"Are you sure you know where you are going?"
"Relax."
The prince gasped and suddenly stopped and Jane ran right into his rump, groaning in disgust at the none too pleasant smell.
"You two are entirely too loud. I could hear you coming around the corner. Pipe down will you?"
"Lavinia!" Jane exclaimed quietly.
She grinned at her brother, "You're slow. I beat you."
He stomped his foot on the ground again, "No you did not! You cheated!"
"You're just a slow baby." She retorted, taunting him by sticking out her tongue.
Jane interjected the argument before it got to loud, "Enough!" she hissed, "Is this a joke to you two? We are getting out of here right now. This was a bad idea."
"But Jane, the torture chamber is right around the corner. They already started."
Right around the corner, she said? Jane couldn't lie. Her interest had been peaked and if she was this close, what was the harm in taking a quick peek. But then again, what if the absence of the prince and princess was noticed? Where was dragon at a time like this? She needed his advice on what to do.
"I say leave the children there and run."
On second thought, never mind. She shook her head in amusement. He would definitely say something along those lines.
"Please Jane?" Lavinia pleaded, batting her long eyelashes with a pout, "Only for a little while. And then we'll go back."
"Fine." She finally relented, her curiosity beating out her trepidation for consequences.
They walked quietly into the slightly more open part of the dungeon around the corner and crouched down in the shadows, looking on at the happenings in the large room. The room smelled of old, rotting body and was tinged with a putrid, scent of overwhelming blood. The walls were coated with dried entrails and bloody shapes and figures. Jane's lip curled. This was the Torture Chamber? It was appalling. It was ghastly.
Even more ghastly was the man being flogged in the center of the room. He was tied by his wrists to a chain attached to the roof. His legs were dragging on the ground, the ankles bent and oddly twisted and one of his knees was turned inside out. The two torturers were taking turns striking various parts of his body with their leather whips. That must have hurt incredibly. Smithy's leather fashionings were made with utmost quality and precision and there was no doubt in Jane's mind, as the whip cracked against the man's skin, that it must have hurt terribly. He made few noises and bit his lip tightly to keep from crying out. The man was flogged for a few seconds more and his body ended up rotating. His front ended up facing them.
Jane was shocked. The man's face was a bloody mess, with some teeth seemingly knocked out and a broken, bent, ruined nose. How long had he been beaten? He was bruised and his body was bloodied and scarred from the numerous attacks he had received. His blonde hair had turned a ruddy brownish red, the blonde color marred by dried, caked on blood from head injuries. The only thing that made him recognizable as a prisoner were his silver/gray eyes, staring defiantly at the guards. Their strength, unwavering. He was also stark naked.
"Wow. So that is the appearance of a naked man." Lavinia whispered, awestruck.
Jane gave her a look, "Lavinia…"
She shrugged, "What? Weren't you surprised too? Haven't you ever wondered what it looked like?"
"Lavinia, that is inappropriate. And as a knight-in-training, unfortunately, I have seen naked men before, but usually, only, to administer first aid if need be."
Lavinia's grin grew deviously, "So you've seen Gunther's? What is it like? He is very handsome! I bet his is handsome too!"
"Lavinia! Be quiet!" Jane spluttered, blushing furiously red. "This is an inappropriate conversation to have."
Cuthbert growled, "Would you two shut up? Or we'll be found."
One of the guards turned around in their direction, frowning, "Did you hear something?"
"It's probably just rats." The other one grunted before striking the prisoner's back once again. "Do you feel like talking now, you quim? Or do we have to use more force?"
Jane recognized the guard striking the man from a past encounter when she had been training on the grounds one day. She believed he was called Ralf and though he hadn't been unkind or necessarily unfriendly, he had a sort of lethal brutality and sharpness that was rather offputting. He wasn't evil, she was sure, but he had this hidden maliciousness in his gaze that always unsettled Jane. Jane figured for a profession like torturing, if you did not have a hardened resolve and spirit, this kind of work would rip your conscience apart.
The man beckoned Ralf over, groaning lightly. He walked over, eyes narrowed in suspicion. When he was close enough to the prisoner, the man spit disgustingly in the his face, blood mixed with saliva and splattering onto his eye and nose. In a split second, Ralf wiped off the blood with his sleeve before delivering a bone grinding punch that left an echo throughout the chamber. The prisoner groaned.
"Well, since you don't feel like cooperating, maybe you should have an incentive. Bring out the thumbscrew*."
The other guard left momentarily then came back with the small contraption. Although the prisoner glared and didn't say a word, Jane could see the almost imperceptible shift in his expression. It was the same kind of expression she found herself adopting when faced with a situation she could not control. The same kind of expression she found herself adopting when in the all-encompassing evil of darkness. It was fear.
Ralf's partner broke the chains attached to the captive's wrists and held him upright as he began to crumble to the ground. The prisoner did not seem to have any strength to even fight back. They placed his right thumb into the torture object and the man let out an involuntary flinch. It was not lost on Ralf and he grinned maliciously. He tightened the screw swiftly, causing discomfort.
"Speak you mongrel, or lose your thumb." The prisoner only frowned deeper, "Why did you attack our entourage? What is your king plotting?"
He sneered at them defiantly, and without a word, Ralf sharply continued turning the thumbscrew. There was a loud snap and the prisoner let out a deafening cry, but quickly shut his quivering lips, trying to silence himself.
"I'll ask you again. Why did you attack us? What is your king planning?"
"B-bite me." The prisoner rasped out, breathing harshly in an accent Jane somewhat recognized, but couldn't pinpoint. His words were muddled, and with a soft gasp, she realized his tongue had been cut out.
Ralf continued to turn the thumbscrew, a grinding sound of bone splitting through ripped skin released into the air and the prisoner's bellows came out shortly after. Jane felt her toes curl. This was torture? It was barbaric and inhumane. Sure, the man was an enemy to the kingdom, but the maneuvers utilized to get him to talk were dastard. She would never be able to perform any torturous acts on anyone. She watched as Ralf threw the remains of the mangled finger still stuck onto the contraption onto the ground. She didn't dare look at the prisoner's hand. Ralf proceeded with the other thumb, but his questions were either ignored or responded to negatively. And yet again, Ralf mercilessly mangled his thumb. The prisoner was trying to hold back his cries, but Jane did not doubt the pain was incredible. She watched his eyes tear up, and he convulsed jerkily, releasing muffled screams as his other thumb was ripped to shreds. She tried not to sympathize with him, as he was of an enemy court, but looking at his face, she couldn't help but wonder how old he was. He could not have been older then Gunther. He was barely an adult.
"Very well, you refuse to speak. You leave us no choice. The rack if you will. And bring his friends."
Another guard walked aroung the corner, roughly pushing in a bunch of the other chained captives, all stripped naked and in various states of battering. There was one who had a bloody gash running the length of his back. And another whose eye was swollen shut.
Lavinia giggled lightly, "Jane look. It's your twin."
She frowned at Lavinia. Aside from her ill-timed joke, it was rather alarming that she was watching the whole ordeal so nonchalantly. Not like Cuthbert, who she noted at this time was looking rather green and sick to his stomach. One more guard came out and pulled the rack* out. The large contraption screeched noisily against the ground as it was dragged to the center of the floor. The other prisoners watched with thinly veiled fright at the giant machine. She looked at the already tortured man. He looked defeated. No doubt he knew what was coming. She applauded his resolve, though. He had much strength to withstand such brutality without betraying his kingdom. The guards carelessly dragged the struggling man over to the rack and tied his wrists and ankles to the strings of the rack.
"Leave him be! He's already broken!" The prisoner with the large gash on his back shouted out. He had gone almost pale and looked like he was about to pass urine onto himself. The other two shot him glares to quiet him. He clammed up his mouth, but Jane noticed he was trembling horribly and his knees would not stop shaking. It was not lost on Ralf, who sent him a very nasty smile before turning the crank of the rack without prelude.
They all flinched and jumped when the prisoner released a blood curdling scream as his limbs were yanked apart by the machine. There were disgusting popping and ripping sounds as the cartilage and bones were snapped out of place and distorted beyond measure. The man howled in pain, his screams and shouts bordering on manic agony. Jane flinched again in shock as his blood splattered and spilled on the ground and walls and dripped down the mechanics of the machine.
Cuthbert yanked on Lavinia and Jane's sleeves in fright. "This is too much! Can we please leave?"
Lavinia shrugged him off. "No Cuthbert… I don't want to."
Lavinia sounded brave, but Jane could see she was a little shaken at the whole thing. No doubt seeing limbs ripped apart in such a way was a rather shocking experience. Jane knew Lavinia would bounce back and get over it eventually. Two previous winters, Lavinia had watched her riding teacher fall off his horse and break his leg compactly. Lavinia loved to read about knight battles in the Royal Library as well. It was Cuthbert who Jane was worried about. He looked absolutely sick.
The man on the rack's breathing was growing ragged and heavy, and he fought to remain conscious. Unrelenting, one guard took a hot torch and began to direct it towards him, while the other guard brought a mallet along with some rusty nails. Jane's eyes widened. This was abysmal. She didn't even care about finding out any more information. This was not for the eyes of any to see.
She took the sleeves of the royal children, "Lavinia. Cuthbert is right. We need to leave. This is too brutal."
But as soon as she had uttered the word, there was a scared shout.
"Enough! Stop torturing him! I'll tell you everything! Just stop torturing my brother!"
It was the shaken prisoner who screamed it, and he dropped to his knees, crying tears of compassion, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably. The man on the rack turned his head slowly, painstakingly slowly, toward his frightened companion and cast him a disgusted glare. Lavinia's hand went to her mouth in shock. Jane could see what she was thinking plain as day on her young face. No doubt she sympathized due to having a brother she loved of her own.
"Shut your mouth!" One prisoner shouted at him.
The other kicked him, "You fool Alban! Are you really going to waste the sacrifice your brother made?!"
It was too late. Ralf left the man and the rack and roughly grabbed the scared prisoner by his neck, lifting him up roughly as he gagged and tried to catch a few breaths.
"Great…"he began chillingly, "Speak or I will bring to your colleagues the same fate."
Alban looked ashamed and silenced himself, but cracked when a guard began to approach his brother with the mallet and nails again.
"W-we were not told of our mission in great detail…" he shook, "'K-Kippurnium will perish by the hands of its greatest ally' we were told."
There was a pregnant pause as everyone took in his words. Jane frowned. Greatest ally? What in the world did that mean? Was there a war brewing?
Ralf was unfazed, "How do we know we can trust you?" He snapped the fingers of his free hand and another guard shoved a nail into the man on the rack's shoulder, slamming it into the bone with the mallet. His howl echoed through the chamber, reverberating down the walls, and Jane involuntarily shivered.
"I'm telling the truth!" Alban gasped, crying out when the pressure on his neck increased. "Please!"
Ralf dropped him onto the ground without a word. Jane knew there was nothing else that was going to occur, but senseless killing. None of the men in the chamber would be leaving alive. Without a word, Jane pulled Lavinia and Cuthbert quickly away from the scene. They slunk back to the shadows around the corner. With good reason too, because in the next moment, they heard a bang of the mallet and a distressing cry of agony.
"Jane, why did you pull us away? We were just getting to the good part."
Cuthbert frowned, his face eerily pale, "That was horrible. We need to leave."
Jane nodded, "I'm sorry Lavinia. I know you are naturally curious, but your brother is right. We need to leave immediately. Who knows how long we have been down here and it is imperative that you get back to the banquet."
She was about to head back toward the way they came, but then she remembered that they couldn't very well leave out the way she came. No doubt the entrance had been sealed up and was guarded by now. And they couldn't very well stroll out the front entrance either. What were they supposed to say?
"Good evening, gentlemen. We were just passing through."
That would never work.
She turned to them in confusion, "How did you two enter the dungeons?"
Cuthbert smirked, "That was my ingenious plan. I had Lavinia pretend to be lost to the guards in front and when they moved from their post I snuck in. And then Lavinia lost them and followed."
Jane's eyes narrowed, "Perhaps it was a good plot for coming in, but did you not think about how you would get back out of the dungeons?"
He opened his mouth, then closed it again, his face burning.
Lavinia giggled, "Do not worry Jane. I know another way out."
They both stared at her, surprised.
Jane narrowed her eyes, "How do you know another way out?"
Lavinia smiled secretly and began to walk along the dungeon, following along the walls and leaving the others no other choice but to follow her. They snuck around corners and went in a direction of which Jane had absolutely no knowledge of. She had gone in the dungeons before as a curious young tyke, but she had never truly ventured too deeply into it. It seemed like Lavinia was very familiar with these parts of the dungeon. She stared at the young Princess. What did she even do in her spare time?
They turned another corner and reached a dead end and stopped. Cuthbert threw his hands up in exasperation.
"A dead end! You see? This is what we get for following her."
She put her finger to her lips. "Shh! You'll spook the horses."
Jane frowned, "Horses, Lavinia?"
"Give me a lift, Jane?"
Jane bent down and Lavinia climbed onto her shoulders. When Lavinia tapped her head, Jane stood up straight and she rummaged around the ceiling, knocking lightly on the roof. Dust, rocks and debris fell down and Jane heard Cuthbert cough exaggeratedly behind her.
"Aha!" Lavinia pushed aside the soft wooden board and then grabbed the ledge and pulled herself up, grunting from the effort. "Jane, send Cuthbert up."
Jane turned to him and he frowned, "You won't be able to lift me."
She rose an eyebrow and without a word, bent down, scooping him up like one does a child and pushing him toward the ceiling. He yelped in surprise and wiggled, trying to keep his balance.
"Do not underestimate my strength, young prince."
Lavinia helped pry him up while Jane tried to push him up with much grunting and effort from both of them. His upper body strength was clearly lacking. At last, they were able to push him through the door.
Lavinia and Cuthbert reached down, and Jane took a large leap. Their hands connected and struggling, they pulled Jane up as far as they could until her hands could reach the ledge. Jane pried herself up with a bodily groan. Her left shoulder was killing her. This was the exact kind of activity the doctor had told her to avoid. No doubt she had exerted it well past its level. She hoped the skin would not turn purple or something. If her mother saw it, she would never hear the end of it.
When Jane was out of the way, Lavinia put the wooden board back and grabbed a bale of hay, covering the makeshift trap door back up. Jane realized they were in the deepest part of the stables in an empty stall next to the horses of the king.
"Lavinia, where on earth did you discover this passage? Do you use it often?"
Lavinia blushed and continued to rearrange the spare hay to make the cover up more natural, "I only use it a little."
Jane was about to question her further but then stopped and shook her head, deciding to spare the girl for the night. They had seen a lot. Too much in fact. For now, she needed to ensure their safety and get them to the banquet.
"Come along, your majesties."
Crouching along the ground, she checked to make sure there was no one in the stables. Confirming that they were indeed alone, she pushed open the wooden stable door and hurried out of the royal stables with Lavinia and Cuthbert behind her. She ran straight to the castle. When they reached the banquet hall, she stopped short of approaching the doors. There were a few amorous patrons outside, who had probably had much too much braggot during the feast.
"Lavinia, Cuthbert. Do not mention to anyone what you have seen or learned today."
Cuthbert scoffed, "Obviously. We are no longer children, Jane."
"I apologize. Goodnight Princess Lavinia. Goodnight Prince Cuthbert."
She nodded and they parted ways. Them, back into the party. Her, back to her room at the tower. She was absolutely exhausted. Not only because her body was tired, sore and overused, but also because of what she had seen. A little blood and brutality? She was used to. But that had been calibers above what she was used to. And then what that man had stated…
"K-Kippurnium will perish by the hands of its greatest ally."
What exactly did he mean by greatest ally? Was a kingdom going to betray them?
Jane wanted a second opinion about this. But she wasn't sure who she should tell. Speaking of what she had seen would force her to reveal that she had snuck into the dungeons. Not to mention, was there anyone she could trust with this kind of information?
Perhaps Gunther…?
But she wasn't sure.
This kind of thinking hurt her head and she groaned, falling back onto her bed. Her head was spinning with thoughts and she couldn't relax enough to sleep so she found herself curling into a ball on her bed, trying to focus her thoughts.
"K-Kippurnium will perish by the hands of its greatest ally."
She just couldn't put the pieces together in her head. Why would Farrimond align themselves with an ally of Kippurnium? And why would the ally betray Kippurnium? What on earth was the motive for this impending attack?
Tomorrow, she would need to make time to go to the library. She wasn't sure what she would be looking for, but one thing was for sure. She needed to look into the royal archives. Something was very wrong.
*thumbscrew: a torture device in which the thumbs or fingers are placed in a vice and then crushed using a rotating screw.
*rack: a torture machine in which arms and legs were attached to the machine. Then a crank was rotated which pulled the limbs apart.
Urgh... sorry if this chapter was very low quality. I haven't been in the greatest of moods lately, but I wanted to update for you guys. If the pace and tone feels off, I'm sorry...
This was also a super hard and heavy chapter to write. So I'm gonna switch gears next chapter.
Hope you enjoyed! :)