The Knight
The next few days were quiet. Too quiet. Jestro was too quiet. Jestros' eighth birthday did not go as everyone pictured. The past ones were always fun, loud and happy. This year, it was just quiet, dull and depressing. Jestro did not smile like he usually did. When Flama and Moltor put the chocolate mud cake that they made in front of him, he just blew out the candles without any excitement in his eyes. The only times he spoke were when he would say thank you or when he asked for something. Whiparella made a new and bigger set of clothes for him to grow into that were similar to his old ones, but he barely reacted to it. He just thanked Whiparella and wore it for the next few days. Jestro had been doing everything he could to stay away from Monstrox. After what happened, the boy could not even look at the necromancer without going pale and wide eyed. Roberto had been trying to avoid the gang as well; noticing that they have been giving him rather strange and irritated looks and stares.
One morning after breakfast, everyone was in the living room; trying to relax and do their own little things. Lavaria was polishing her two favourite knives, Moltor was polishing his favourite brass knuckles, Flama, Book keeper, Beast Master and Burnzie and Sparkks were playing a game of poker and Magmar was fixing up his ponytail. Whiparella held Jestros' old hood in her hands. She looked over to a corner of the room to see Jestro sitting on the floor with Muffin and Poopsie. The two dogs were sleeping while Jestro was just looking down at the floor. Whiparella looked back at the hood in her hands and sighed. The whip wielder got up out of her seat and made her way over to Jestro. Everyone noticed and watched as she kneeled down in front of his.
"Jestro, dear?" She spoke gently to him.
Jestro did not look up at her.
"Are you feeling alright today?" She asked.
Jestro still did not look up. But he slowly shook his head. Whiparella frowned a little before speaking again.
"Lavaria and I were going to town this afternoon to get supplies." She smiled a bit as she spoke. "Do you want to come?"
Jestro looked up at Whiparella; blinking at her with tired eyes. He thought about it for a moment before nodding a yes.
That afternoon, Lavaria and Whiparella took Jestro out for the afternoon to cheer him up. When they got to the town market, Lavaria bought some food to bring back. She did not want to steal in front of Jestro; already having Monstrox being a bad influence on him. Whiparella got some sewing supplies and she even brought some candy for Jestro. When they finished getting what they needed, they met up near the entrance of the market. Jestro noticed that a lot of people were appearing.
"Did you have fun, Jestro?" Lavaria asked; giving him two bags of groceries light enough for him to carry.
Jestro just nodded with a blank face. Whiparella sighed quietly. She hopped that an afternoon out of the castle would cheer him up. But perhaps it would take more time.
"Come on. Let's get back." Lavaria spoke gently to her peers.
Lavaria, Whiparella and Jestro began making their way out of time. But the people were crowding around then; making it hard to go forward. Jestro tried to stay close to his carers, but the people around him were getting in his way and blocking his view. The boy started breathing heavily when he lost sight of Lavaria and Whiparella; only seeing strangers. Jestro ran another way as he started panicking; trying to get to a less crowded place. Jestro made it out of the crowd, but he fell over his own leg and tripped. With a squeak, he dropped the two bags of food and fell to the dirt. With a quiet moan, he lifted himself up to his knees and rubbed his eyes. He opened them again to see Lavarias' supplies lying on the ground.
"Oh, no." He muttered with a squeak.
Jestro buried his face in his hands; feeling panic rising in him.
"Are you okay?"
Jestro jumped and looked up. He froze when he saw a boy around his age looking down at him with a concerned face. Jestro stared at the boy; looking at his standing brunette hair and his blue eyes. He was also wearing what looked like armour with a blue and white crest in the shape of an eagle. The boy blinked at Jestro before leaning forward.
"Would you like me to help you?" He asked.
Jestro could not get any words out. He could look back and forth between the boy and dropped groceries. He could only nod. The boy helped Jestro pick up his groceries and put them back in the two bags he had. Jestro filled one bag up while the boy filled up the other. The boy stood up with the bag as Jestro quickly got up. The boy was about to give him his bag back.
"Here you go." He smiled as he held out the bag.
Jestro took the bag and held them both in his arms. He looked down at the ground as his pale cheeks turned bright red.
"Thank you." He said quietly.
The boy gave Jestro a friendly smile before speaking again.
"I'm Clay." He introduced himself. "What's your name?"
Jestro looked up at Clay; cheeks still red. He was about to say something.
"Sweetheart! Where are you?!"
Whiparellas' voice called out. Jestro looked in the direction of the voice. She sounded like she was panicking.
"Coming, Whippy!" He called back.
Jestro looked at Clay briefly before running off with his bags of groceries. He did not look back as he ran to Whiparella and Lavaria. He found them near a building; running up at them as they ran to him.
"Where'd you go?!" Lavaria questioned as Whiparella hugged Jestro tightly.
"I got lost. I'm sorry." Jestro apologised.
"Don't apologise, dear; it's not your fault." Whiparella took a bag from Jestro and held his hand. "Let's go home."
The trio made their way out of town and began their trek through the forest and back to the castle. As they walked through the forest, they noticed that it began to lightly snow. Jestro looked up at the white powder slowly falling on top of them. Lavaria looked over at him; noticing how deep in thought he seemed.
"Everything okay, Jestro?" She asked.
Jestro looked up at Lavaria and nodded quickly. But he looked back to the ground again. He kept thinking about the boy that helped him. Clay. The name repeated itself in Jestros' head and the image of his friendly smile froze on his mind. He looked up at Whiparella and Lavaria again.
"Can I tell you guys something?" Jestro asked.
"You can tell us anything, Jestro." Whiparella answered with a smile.
Jestro thought about what he was going to say.
"I met someone when I got lost."
Lavaria and Whiparella stopped in the tracks and looked down at their boy. Lavaria raised a brow in concern.
"What do you mean?" Whiparella asked.
The pair grew worried when Jestro had trouble answering.
"I tripped and dropped the food. But a boy dressed like a Knight helped me."
Lavaria and Whiparella loosened up when they realised that Jestro was talking about another kid. They watched with wide eyes when he looked up at them smiling.
"He was really nice to me."
Lavaria smiled and hugged the boy tightly
"There's the Jestro we know." She nuzzled his cheek; getting a giggle out of him.
Whiparella smiled as she bent down and ruffled up his hair; happy to see him happy. The trio continued their way back to the castle; asking Jestro if he could tell them more about the boy from town when they got back. As the trio made it across the bridge and to the front door, they heard odd noises coming from inside. Lavaria raised a brow when she heard what she thought was Moltor yelling. And someone screaming with Italian words. Whiparella held Jestros' hand as Lavaria opened the door to see the men gathered around what was making the commotion.
"PLEASE PUT ME DOWN!"
The trio heard a high voice with an Italian accent. Lavaria moved closer to see.
"What's going on here!?" She shouted out; getting their attention.
All the men turned to look at the returning trio. They went wide eyed when Burnzie turned around, because he was holding Roberto upside down from his leg. Jestro and Whiparella gave the giant man freaked out looks. Roberto put his hands together in a beggar fashion.
"Please help me, Signorina Lavaria." The sculptor begged.
Lavaria gave her comrades hard looks.
"What are you all doing?!" She questioned harshly.
Magmar looked at the others with a rather nerve racked face. Flama and Moltor stepped forward.
"We wanna tell you." Moltor started. "But..."
"It's not something a child should hear." Flama finished.
Lavaria got the hint and asked Whiparella to take Jestro out of the room.
"Come on, dear. We can go through the things we bought." Whiparella lead Jestro up the stairs to the women's quarters.
Lavaria turned back to the men; expecting an answer to why they were acting like cavemen towards Roberto.
"Alright, Arnoldi." Magmar called the sculptor by surname. "Tell Lavaria what you told us."
"Or I'll make my babies eat you!" Beast Master threatened, making Muffin and Poopsie growl at him.
Lavaria raised a brow as Roberto drew a cross on his chest with his finger. The sculptor looked Lavaria in the eye as he began to explain.
"I really do care about what happens to little Jestro; I really do!" Roberto shuddered as he spoke. "But Monstrox made me swear to secrecy!"
"Just talk already!" Sparkks grabbed him and swung him around.
Roberto held his head as he tried not to get dizzy. He continued to explain.
"What I am about to tell you may put Jestro in danger." He warned.
Lavaria blinked at the sculptor.
"What do you mean by danger?" She questioned.
"Let me finish. Monstrox is not training Jestro so he can be his successor. It's something terrible."
The gang listened as Roberto struggled to get it out; clearly upset by what he was about to say.
"Monstrox told me that when he takes over the kingdom... He's going to transfer his soul into Jestro and use him as a vessel so he can be young again."
Everyone looked at Roberto like he was insane. Burnzie was so shocked that he accidentally dropped the sculptor on the floor; making him let out a squeaky ompf noise. Moltor narrowed his eyebrow before he picked Roberto up by his collar and looked at him straight in the eye. Everyone watched as Moltor gave him the most horrific stare in existence.
"Are you saying that old bunny cursing scumbag is GOING TO USE THE KID AS SOME KIND OF SOUL JAR!?" The tough twin yelled at the sculptor in question.
"He can't do that!" Burnzie and Sparkks said at the same time.
"But he won't do it yet! He's going to do it after he takes over the kingdom, which probably won't be for another five or ten years." Roberto explained out of fear of Moltor punching him.
Moltor growled at Roberto like an angry dog. But book keeper tugged at his shirt and made him look down; silently asking him to calm down and stop. Moltor stared at the short man as he calmed himself. He finally loosened up and let Roberto go. Magmar came up to the sculptor and gave him a warning.
"You make sure that Master stays away from Jestro." The general warned. "I may be his general. But I know when not to cross the line. Don't make us warn you again."
"Just don't let Monstrox know that I told you this." Roberto warned back. "He'll go berserk like my nonna when there's a mouse in the house eating her bread-"
"Just go back to your job and keep Monstrox busy." Flama pointed up the stairs.
Roberto fell silent before doing what Flama was implying. The sculptor ran up the stairs and left the gang to their own devices. Everyone was at loss. Magmar rubbed his head in frustration.
"I can't believe this." Beast master worried; patting his pets for comfort.
"I feel like this is my fault." Moltor admitted in regret. "I should've kept my mouth shut about that thing that happened at the market."
"That jerk would've found out eventually, bro." Flama put a hand on his brothers' shoulder.
Book keeper looked up at Lavaria; seeing her panicking as tears began to emerge.
"How am I going to break this to Whiparella?" She questioned in her head.
Later after everyone had dinner, it was time for bed. Jestro ran around the room in his red and purple pyjamas as he told Whiparella and Lavaria about his day.
"I was scared when I got lost from you two." He recalled from earlier from today. "Then I fell over, but Clay helped me."
Whiparella smiled at the smile on Jestros' face when he talked about the boy called Clay.
"He was wearing armour; like a knight!" Jestro explained as he jumped and sat down on his bed. "And he looked really pretty too. I bet he's going to be a real knight when he grows up; like how I'm going to be a wizard."
Lavaria felt her insides go cold. She did not tell Whiparella about what Roberto told her and the others. But she was terrified of the thought of what would happen to Jestro if she did not. All she could do right know was smile and listen to her boy as he happily reminisced. Whiparella laughed a bit as she tucked him into bed.
"From the way you talk about him, it sounds like you have a crush on this knight." She teased playfully.
Jestro gave Whiparella a confused look.
"I don't wanna crush anybody. That sounds like it hurts." He said with a raised brow.
Lavaria giggled a little.
"It's not like that, joker." She clarified. "When you have a crush on someone, it usually means you like them in a way."
"What kind of way?"
Whiparella moved a bit of hair out of his face and kissed him on the forehead.
"We'll tell you when you're older." She promised. "Now it's time for bed."
Jestro just shrugged and smiled before lying back and curling up into his sheets and blankets. As Whiparella got into the bed that she and Lavaria shared together, Lavaria kept thinking about the horrible things she heard today; feeling like she knew the world was ending.
"Coming to bed, Lavy?"
Lavaria looked up from her deep and dark thoughts to see Whiparella playfully begging her to come to bed. The sneaky woman nodded before she turned off the light of the room and climbed into bed with her partner. Whiparella pulled the blanket over the two of them; keeping them warm from the cold outside.
"I hear it's going to snow pretty soon." Lavaria muttered; looking towards the window.
"That's lovely." Whiparella replied as she yawned. "I love it when it snows."
Lavaria felt a slight chill go up her spine as Whiparella wrapped her arms around her and pulled her in; holding her gently.
"We'll make snowmen and snow angels when it comes." She muttered as she fell asleep.
Lavaria would usually find comfort in Whiparellas' embrace. But she could not stop thinking about what would become of Jestro. Roberto did say that Monstrox was not going to do anything yet. Maybe she could do something that would involve getting her boy away from the castle and away from Monstroxs' grip. She closed her eyes as she reassured herself of that. She did not know that Roberto was not lying. But he was wrong.
