Author's Note: I own nothing.
34 Tall Tales
They pulled up in front of the castle, because of course it was a castle, several miles outside of Bellwood. Jen had known Kevin's windows were opaque from the outside, but she hadn't known the real reason until he turned in his seat and spoke to them.
"Stay here until I make sure they have the payment, they don't give it we take off." The girls nodded and Kevin got out of the car. He'd parked so his side of the car was facing away from the doors.
"You got what I wanted?" He was talking to a brown haired man dressed in full armor. The man rolled his eyes and gestured a few boys forward, they were carrying two crates between them a smaller box stacked on top of it. Kevin looked it all over carefully and popped the trunk of his car. The boys, a few years younger than Jen by the looks of them, set down the crates. Kevin closed the trunk and tapped his knuckle on the window nodding. Jen nodded to Gwen and the two teens stepped out of the car. Kevin clicked the key fob, locking the doors as the Knight with the brown hair relaxed slightly. He nodded and one of the other boys stepped forwards. He and Jen were about the same height, five foot nothing. He was also blonde with an awful bowl cut and bright blue eyes.
"This is Gregory, a squire of our order." The Knight introduced him almost dismissively. "He will explain the situation and introduce you to his Master, Sir Conner. Squire." The blonde bowed and smiled at them. As he led them into the castle Jen heard one of the Knights behind them speak to the brown haired one.
"Should you be so dismissive of Sir Connor's squire?" The man snorted.
"Sir Connor goes through squires like a man with the flu goes through tissues." The door closed behind them, cutting off the laughter of the knights. Jen frowned at Kevin and Gwen. Kevin shrugged and Gwen returned her cousin's frown.
"Nice to meet you Gregory. I'm Jen." The boy smiled back at them, looking slightly nervous.
"Ooh I know who you are, you are quite famous throughout the order." Jen blinked at that but nodded. She'd tangled with the knights enough for there to be stories spread about her.
"Fair enough." Gregory seemed to be a nervous talker though.
"When I heard where Sir Conner was heading, I could hardly believe it! That I would get to meet a changeling in person!" He looked back and frowned slightly at their confusion. He laughed slightly. "I am sorry you wouldn't know that story, it's one of the more obscure tales of the Knights." He pushed back a section of armor on his wrist and checked the watch beneath before repositioning it back into place. "Follow me."
He led them into a hall off the main one. It was locked until Gregory pulled out a key ring, very old fashioned and opened the door for them. He led them past tapestry after tapestry depicting epic battles between knights and various beasts, some of which Jen recognized as aliens. The further down the hallway they went the older the tapestries got. By the time they reached the end of the hall Jen was reasonably certain they were surrounded by ancient history. Gregory pointed to one of the tapestries.
"It is one of the oldest stories the knights tell, most believe at least part of it to be fiction but with everything I've seen I don't." They turned to the tapestry in question. It was large, full length from the floor to the ceiling. The biggest figure in it was a black dragon reeling backwards, mouth open poised to strike as a battle raged around its feet. Two figures stood apart from the melee. One was a tall knight in shining armor. The other was a bit odd. She was smaller than the knight and dressed in a gown of green with black trim. Between her and the knight was a gleaming sword. Each of them appeared to be holding it with one hand. The girls face was pale and her hair long and brown, her eyes as green as the gown she was dressed in. She was the only woman on the whole tapestry.
"The story goes that the original Forever Knight, founder of our order, fought a fierce dragon to a stalemate but just when he believed that there was no way to defeat the creature a fae being gifted him a sword of great power. Their battle raged but try as he might he could not comprehend the power of the blade he was gifted, and he was wounded in a battle with the creature. It was about to strike the final blow when a changeling appeared." He pointed to the girl in the tapestry.
"They say when she first appeared she was a tall being cut from stone who healed his wound and beat back the dragon. With the creature routed the stone figure transformed into the woman depicted here. Between the two of them they were able to harness the swords power and defeat the dragon." Jen frowned at the bottom of the tapestry. Across the border were characters. They weren't English but it was definitely writing and the thing was Jen recognized it. She looked over at Kevin who was still looking at the girl in the tapestry. Gregory didn't notice that his audience wasn't as rapt as he was.
"But that's not the strangest part of the story. The strangest part of the story was that when the dragon's power was broken the changeling vanished never to be seen again. Some stories say she was a manifestation of the people that lost their lives in the battle with the dragon. Others say she was an angel sent to help the Knight. Still others claim she was a fairy sent by the swordsmith to help the Knight. No one knows the truth of the story." He turned to Jen who was still examining the characters on the base of the tapestry.
"When I heard about you I formed a theory. What if the changeling woman simply went back to a normal life and wished to not be involved in the fighting anymore since the threat was taken care of? What if that power was passed down the generations?" Kevin was the one who laughed.
"She doesn't do that on her own dude." Jen nodded.
"He's not wrong." She held up the Omnitrix. "I don't do it alone, or naturally. Sorry to bust your bubble. It's a cool tapestry though." She fiddled with the necklace around her neck. "Pretty sure it's off topic too though. Why are we here Gregory?" The squire blushed and nodded.
"Yes, sorry, please follow me."
"No it's fine, it was an interesting story but I am very interested as to why you guys paid Kevin to set up a meeting." Gregory and Jen began to walk away and Gwen made to follow but Kevin was still looking at the girl in the tapestry.
"You coming Kev?"
"Yeah. Why are her eyes completely green? There's no white part of her eyes. It's all green." Gwen looked closer at the tapestry.
"Huh. That is weird. But we should go with them. You know in case Jen starts a fight." Kevin nodded. But he glanced back at the tapestry as they left the room. He couldn't shake the feeling that the girl in the tapestry had looked familiar.
The fact that the knights wanted their help tracking and subduing a dragon had Jen laughing so hard she was doubled over. Even Gwen looked amused.
"Ok look dragons aren't really real. Come on." Kevin shrugged at Gwen who had spoken.
"Could be an alien. They come in every shape and size."
"Ok this prank is over. Come on guys." Gregory stepped in front of them.
"Please people are being hurt we need your help!" Jen sighed.
"Do you have any proof whatsoever that what you're telling me is actually happening? Even I don't do anything without some kind of proof."
"Insolent child." The man who spoke from the shadows had a thicker English accent than Gregory did. Gregory flinched slightly.
"Jennifer Tennyson this is Sir Connor, the most accomplished, strongest Knight of our order." Jen glared.
"Yeah I'm insolent but I'm not an idiot." Connor stepped out of the shadows looking down on Jen.
"I assure you the dragon is real. And there is no room in this organization for doubt."
"Good thing I have no intention of joining the Organization then huh?" Jen grinned at him, though it was really more of a smirk. Then of course the alarms went off and they witnessed the fact that there was indeed a dragon that was very real and blasted down two fighter jets, though the pilots got away. Jen grudgingly agreed to help as the dragon had hurt innocents. But something about this whole situation didn't feel right.