Chapter 9

Barbara tried again to heal the knight after a few minutes of rest, in which Gabby spoke with the woman about the magic some people received through birth like Dinah and Kafka. "It is not magic," she'd insisted. The healer spoke of her childhood with her gifts and spoke of how the power she had slowly started to grow. Like Dinah, they started when she was young, but she doesn't remember when exactly it started, and the healer believes she's always had her powers, at least in the form of healing herself. It has been just recently that the healer admits to feeling the sick or hurt before she heals them.

"Why are you telling me all this? If people are to be shunned for these gifts, then why are you telling me?" Gabby asked when she moved her wrist again. It was no longer sore and it seemed as if it was fully healed.

"Dinah trusts you, and I trust Dinah. She's seen inside your mind and your heart, so she knows what you are all about. From what she's told me about you, you are a good friend to her, something that she is not used to having."

"But... she's only known me for a few days." Gabby said, watching the healer. She ran her hand over her shortened hair and felt the dampness that the rain had put there. She sighed in annoyance.

"It doesn't matter. She knows who you are now, and she trusts it, I trust you."

"Come on, Barbara. I will take you to the great hall. Maybe some food will help your powers be restored."

"Perhaps you are right, Sir Gabriel." Barbara let the knight take her to the great hall where she nodded as her goodbyes. "Aren't you coming inside? You need to regain your strength as well." Barbara said, sounding concerned.

"I will be by later. I have to go see Princess Helena. We are going for a stroll, though where we can go when it is raining so hard outside is beyond me, but I will do what I have to." Barbara smiled, somewhat sadly. "Hey, tell Dinah when you see her that I will be back in our room after I eat, so if she needs to talk or something... I will be there." Barbara nodded and entered the hall. Gabby watched the door for a minute more, then she walked slowly towards the hall where Helena and the King's sleeping quarters were. This hall was closed off, but there was a guard at the door. "Excuse me, sir, but can you please inform the princess that I have come for our stroll?" she politely asked the guard. He smiled at Gabby and nodded, opening the door to the hall and closing it slowly in a non-rude way in the knight's face. Gabby waited for a couple of minutes before the guard returned.

"She's been expecting you and will be out an a few moments." Gabby smiled.

"Thank you." Gabby felt obligated to say. The guard nodded once more, then they stood in silence. The door opened a while later revealing the princess, whom had changed from her simpler dress to a more chic dress that clearly showed her status. It was a long purple gown that covered her feet, and she was wearing fine jewellery on her hands and on her neck. Gabby understood the need for a more presentable look, but the gown she now wore simply begged for someone to rob them. The knight smiled at the princess as she made her way towards her.

"You are earlier than I expected."

"I am sorry if I had thrown you off guard by my early arrival, Princess. I hadn't expected to be healed so quickly."

"Our healer is the best in the world. The way she works is almost like magic. If she hadn't saved my mother during my birth, I am sure she would have been tried and killed for witchcraft years ago." Gabby was silent at the moment, trying not to think of the red-haired woman tied to a stake with flames flowing around her.

"Shall we?" Gabby said, extending her elbow. The princess linked arms with the knight and they started to walk the corridor with Guy, Helena's personal guard, walking leisurely behind them at a distance, but not one so great that he wouldn't be there if something went wrong. "This is my first time in the Wayne kingdom, so forgive me Princess, if I do not know my way around the castle. I do not know of a place for us to walk when the rain falls so." Gabby said, slowing her pace when she found that the princess was having a little troubles walking at her pace because of her gown.

"Of course, Sir Gabriel. I suppose I should give you a tour of the castle. After tomorrow, who knows, you might be living here." she said shyly.

"One can only hope, Princess... and a tour of the castle sounds wonderful." Princess Helena seemed pleased to hear this and showed her to the library, which was the closest room to them.

"This is my favorite place to be. My father gets new stories every month, and I love to read through them before anyone else... There are too many of them for me to read. Before I can get through the ones from this month, there is always a large sum coming from around the world the next. It makes my head spin." Princess Helena said, running her finger over one of the opened scrolls on the desk. "This one is my favorite. It is about a man who isn't of royalty, yet still he fights everything he believes in to become a knight and win over the woman he loves. Happy endings are what I enjoy." She said.

"I enjoy a good tale with a happy ending as well." Gabby agreed. They wandered out of the library a few moments later, and they peeked into a room where King Bruce liked to read his favorite scrolls. ('All of them are about fighting for what is right even if people lose their lives along the way. My father always says that their lives were not lost in vein if they win their fight, but it makes me wonder about those whom have died, and then their battle is lost.' Helena had said.) When they walked out of there, Gabby bumped into Brian.

"There you are! I am glad I found you at last. You are a hard man to track down. I tried your quarters, but there was no one there-"

"Mind your manners, Brian." Gabby said, using her head to gesture towards the princess. She frowned in thought as she heard that Dinah wasn't in the corridors and hoped things were alright with her, it starting to get really late in the evening.

"My apologies, my lady." Brian bowed. He then turned towards Gabriel. "I just wanted to give you the money from our bet this afternoon as to let you know I didn't go back on our side of the deal." he said.

"I trust you and your brother, Brian. It could have waited until I entered the great hall." Gabby responded.

"We thought you might not come again like last night." Brian said. He handed Gabby a satchel of coins, and it seemed heavier than Gabby had expected it to be.

"Not all of it is gold, so there is some silver in there as well." Gabby nodded.

"Thank you." she said, tying the sack to her wrist.

"You're welcome. Well, I shall not keep you any longer. Good evening." Brian said to the both of them, and then he was on his way, most likely back to the great hall where there was a large feast of rabbit stew. The thought of eating the beasts she'd slain the day before made the knights stomach churn, and so she was grateful for the question the princess next to her asked.

"Do you bet often?" Helena asked.

"Guilty, Princess. I am known to bet now and then." Gabby admitted.

"At least you are honest about it. Many people would lie, but my father is known to bet on horse races, so I do not see the problem with it." Helena said. They walked for a while in silence and after a while, Helena's arm slipped from the knight's, and her hand slid next to Gabby's and she found herself holding it. This shocked the knight because this contact was a little more intimate, and as far as Gabby knew a couple didn't hold hands until a month or so after a known and announced courtship. This felt almost scandalous, but looking at the princess, Gabby saw that she seemed to feel safer like that, so she put the fear aside. She was just making the princess feel safe as they walked innocently down the corridors. After a while something felt wrong. Gabby stopped and squeezed her hand to signal for her to stop as well.

"Be still, Princess." There was a grunt from behind them and then a thud. Gabby ran to the fallen guard and took Helena with her. She checked for his pulse. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that he was still alive, but he was knocked out. The princess was yanked away from the knight quickly, and Gabby straightened to see what was going on. A small man Gabby's age held a dagger to Helena's throat. Gabby recognized this man as one of the men who played the fanfair before the tasks.

"Give me that satchel and no one gets hurt." He said. he had already taken the jewellery that Helena was wearing, and he was pocketing it.

"Alright. Let me have the princess, and I will give you the money." The small man didn't move. "You have my word."

"Your word means nothing, no matter who you are." the small man spat out angrily.

"Fine. Just... Don't hurt her." Gabby untied the strings and handed the money to the man, who snatched it and looked inside. His eyes widened.

"You don't make your bets lightly." He smirked, but he held on tighter to the princess. "I'm sure you have more locked away somewhere, so I am going to hold on to my prize until I get every last bit of it." The short man was bald, even though he wasn't in that stage of his life, and his eyes were slightly sunken in as if he hadn't slept in days.

"You have what you came here for. Give the princess back or I will be forced to fight you." Gabby took out her sword from it's hilt and slowly got herself ready for a fight.

"I will fight you, Sir Gabriel, but by my rules. Let's show the princess how impressive at fighting you are WITHOUT the sword. I will show you that I am more of a man than you will ever be." Gabby glared at him. 'Oh, the irony,' the knight thought.

"If you know my name, sir, then you will know that I am not one to pick for a fighting opponent." Gabby warned.

"I have no worries. You knights are nothing without your swords." The knight frowned, quickly getting tired of this man as it was, but to insult the knights she knew, who were noble and brave, well, that just boiled her skin. Unfortunately, the man was right about what he said.

"Fine. Let go of the princess and your weapon, and we will fight, hand to hand, man to man." Gabby challenged.

"Fine." the man agreed, shoving the princess to the ground. The knight dropped his sword at the same time the man dropped his dagger. She heard them both clatter to the stone floors. She saw the other man vanish, and she became confused. Suddenly, she felt a blow to her stomach as the man reappeared. He vanished again and she felt herself being kicked to the floor. She winced in pain as she saw suddenly the man kneeling above her. He had his dagger again, and it was at her throat now. He swiped at her, but she moved, so the blade only got to the lower part of her neck near the collarbone, and it had started to bleed. The man grinned viciously. The man head jerked a little bit and he turned around to see Princess Helena, now shoeless on her right foot.

"Leave him alone!" She yelled. The man was quick and had her in his arms again. She struggled, hitting him a couple of times. The man raised his arm to strike the princess. Gabby scrambled to get her sword but found it was too far away. Then she saw the man's dagger in his hand and remembered Johnny Boy's dagger which she kept on her thigh. She took it out and had it pointed to the man's back. He froze. The dagger was always sharpened, as Gabby liked to keep it that way so that it would be sharp for Johnny Boy when he got it back.

"A real man, knight or not, would never strike a woman." Gabby said in a low threatening voice. The man's hands raised, showing his surrender and tried to turn around, but Gabby dug the blade a little bit into his back, making him feel its point.

"Please... Please don't kill me." the man pleaded.

"I do not kill unless it is necessary. You won't make it necessary, will you?" Gabby asked, as if she was talking to a tyke.

"No." he said, and the knight almost felt a small amount of a sick pleasure when seeing his fear.

"What is your name?" she asked.

"C-Cameron." he turned around.

"Cameron... I will spare your life... but I don't think King Bruce will be as kind." Cameron froze. He knew he was in for a grand punishment for this robbery. He was so sure that he wouldn't get caught with his powers evolving as they did. Fear was seen all over his features. He was grabbed suddenly, and Gabby looked up. Guy was rubbing his head and wasn't looking very happy.

"I don't think I will be either."

"Are you alright, Guy?" Helena asked, genuinely concerned for her guard and friend. The guard smiled and silently reassured the princess that he was, and then he roughly shook Cameron, who started squirming in the larger man's hold. Gabby picked up the Princess' shoe and Helena lifted her foot as the knight helped her put it back on.

"Thank you for your help. I wouldn't have defeated him without it." Gabby said in a voice so soft that it was hard to imagine it so harsh, so cold as it was only seconds before when talking to Cameron. She saw the princess go a little bit pink.

"You're welcome. You were wonderful without my help you know, trying to get him away without any violence at first." Gabby offered her elbow and Helena took it, and they walked behind Guy and Cameron, who were headed towards the king's quarters. They ended up in front of the hall entrance where the guard stood.

"Do we have a problem, Guy?"

"Sir Gabriel and Princess Helena were attacked just now. I was knocked out, and Gabriel had to fight him alone." Guy looked ashamed. "Gabriel defeated him, but I brought him here."

"I'll get the king."

"Yes," Guy looked at Gabby as he tightened his hold on Cameron. He took the satchel from the man and returned it to Gabby. "I believe this is yours."

"Thank you." There was a rush to the door a minute later.

"Helena, are you alright?"

"I am okay, Daddy. Gabriel saved me, but he was hurt." King Bruce saw the cut on her collarbone before Gabby bowed.

"I hope it isn't deep."

"It isn't, Your Highness." Gabby said. She watched as Queen Selina came out not long after King Bruce and embraced her daughter. Gabby suddenly felt she shouldn't be there. King Bruce studied the cut once more, and then he studied Cameron.

"Tell me, Sir Gabriel... What hand held the dagger that made that mark?" Gabby thought it was an odd question, but she thought over the events from the last few moments in as much detail as possible...

"He held the dagger in his left hand, sir." Gabby responded when she saw that the king was starting to get impatient.

"NO!" Cameron yelled. "H-He lies!"

"A knight never lies." Gabby tried not to wince at those words from the king. "Then that is the hand he loses." the king continued. "Take him away. You know what to do with him. As for you," he said to Gabby "I would like to talk to you." Gabby nodded and followed after the king and then started to walk at his side. "You don't know how grateful I am that you were there to save my daughter." The king looked at Gabby and she smiled warmly.

"I am glad that I was as well. I believe that everything happens for a reason, and perhaps Helena felt the need for me to walk with her so that I would be there..." she trailed off. She was babbling. She never used to babble, but she's spent some time with the seer, and she liked to babble when there was too much silence when she didn't like it.

"I have in my possession 20 acres of land not far from the borders of the Pennyworth kingdom... Just say the word and it is yours. I know it isn't much after saving my daughter, but it is a start."

"Your Majesty, that is more than enough." Gabby said, and it was true. Gabby had always dreamed of owning her own lands for her to grow old on, to build her home on.

"So you'll take it?"

"Yes, I mean..." Gabby blushed a little, feeling flustered. 'My own land!' she though excitedly. She didn't own any land. She just lived with Thadius on his land, but she can't stay there forever, and they both knew it. That was what Gabby was saving up for. "I didn't have any land before and 20 acres... I mean, that is more than I will ever need."

"It is a nice area. Alright then, it is yours." Gabby wanted to hug the king, but that just wasn't done, so she bowed slightly.

"Thank you sir."

"One! Two! Three! Again! One! Two! Three-" Gabby fell under the weight of Thadius' blows. Thadius shook his head, not sure what he was to do with Gabriel. The older knight said nothing though as he helped him up, brushed him off, and motioned for him to get ready to try again. Irene came outside before they could start again.

"I told you to be careful with him, Thadius. Can't you see he's getting tired?"

"Irene, the boy will be alright. I told you, my father trained me this way, and my grandfather trained my father this way. It's practically tradition." Irene wasn't buying it for a minute.

"It's alright, Irene. I think this way is better. I feel myself getting stronger this way."

"That's right, Boy. My grandfather didn't win all that land by just being scrawny and lean, no offence, Lad."

"None taken, I guess."

"He worked hard and earned that land, and he was tough. Like a bear, he was. I will build you to be just like him, so you will own half the world by the time you die, Gabe."

"I don't think that is possible, but alright. Let's start up again." Gabby said, feeling herself get a little more excited about that day's training.

"Just be- Oh forget it." Irene said, walking back into the house to watch after Alexis.

"I love you, Irene!" Thadius called.

"I love you, too." she called back over her shoulder.

"Gotta remember to always tell your lady that, Gabe. At least twice a day no matter what the other men think about you. Don't want the ones you love to ever think otherwise." Gabby smiled.

"Of course not."

"Now, get in your stance." Thadius said. "One! Two! Three! Again! One! Two! Three! Again! One! Two! Three! Again..."

Gabby walked- no, Gabby skipped- around the corridors, dancing to a tune that only she heard, a happy tune from long ago that she'd never remember the name to even if she sat down and tried to think of it. Not that Gabby was in the mood to do such a thing. She was in the mood to run through the corridors and scream out her happiness, for she was a true knight now. This is what she's always wanted, and she is now everything she wanted in what she saw of herself as a knight. 'Twenty acres... all mine.' Gabby thought, still not truly believing it, yet the deed was there in her hands. So, who to tell first, Thadius? Probably whomever she comes across first. She picked up her pace and went to the great hall. If she was going to tell some good new she might as well be eating while she tells the tale. She entered the hall and stopped dead in her tracks, her bubbly mood popped, and her smile slowly fading. She didn't see her older friend in the hall then, in fact, she didn't many people in there at this time, but there was one form in a darkened part of the hall, hidden mostly from the other people within, who paid this figure no mind, but it made Gabby gasp sadly. She was only able to say one thing in but a murmur. "Oh Dinah..."