Chapter 24

James once again went back to Lancelot; he looked at me for a minute before whispering something to James.

"Let's go get her back." James shouted. I wasn't sure if that was good or not, as these were the normal lines in the play.

Marty knew were he was now and continued with the normal lines. I didn't listen to the end of the play. I knew how it was going to turn out James saves the princess from the dragon but not before slaying it, they get married and live happily ever after, I couldn't help wondering if my story would turn out like that.

I looked up as clapping reached my ears the play was over, the audience was on their feet, they had loved it. All the children stood up and gave a bow. I walked of stage and weaved threw the crowd. I felt a hand on my shoulder, I turned thinking I was about to see Lancelot but was surprised to see Ani's face staring back at me.

"Look, I need to talk to someone. I could really use a friend right now. She said getting right to the point.

"Okay then well, good luck with that." I replied about to walk of but my conscience got the better of me.

"I mean…sure." I said as we headed out around to the stables.

"Did we do good?" James asked as he came running up behind us.

"You did great." I smiled. He beamed up at me before looking over to Ani.

"Where are you going, can I come?" he asked quickly.

"Maybe another time." I answered looking over to Ani.

"Okay, How about now?" he asked smiling.

"No." I answered trying not to laugh.

"Now?" he asked again.

"No."

"Now?" he asked pleadingly

"Yes."

"Really?"

"No" I said turning back to Ani.

"He can come." Ani said looking down to James.

James started jumping up and down and ran ahead out the gate.

"So what did you want to talk about?" I asked as we walked after James.

"Everything." She shrugged.

I didn't answer hoping she would narrow the topic down a bit.

"One of the Bishop's comrades tried to rape me last night." She said finally.

"What?" I asked as I stopped walking. "Ani we can…" I started to say as I turned around to go and tell Arthur or someone. But she grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

"Jess, don't' worry I'm used to it, that's the thing. I want to be noticed for something else." She said as we started walking again.

"Like what?"

She shrugged. "Most people go through life unnoticed. Their names are never written down; they have nothing named after them. That's fine for most people, but I want more. That's why I act dumb and flick my hair, hoping someone will notice."

I was about to answer when she kept going. "I've tried to be good at other things. The only time I'm happy now is when I'm asleep, I can dream I'm somewhere decent."

We walked on for about an hour, talking all the way. I looked up and suddenly noticed I had no idea where we were.

"Hey, Ani do you know where we are?" I asked stopping and looking around, we were in pretty open ground there were trees all around the sun was nearly setting James was still running around every rock and tree, I started to believe he had unlimited energy.

"Well…no." she answered looking around.

We stood there looking around the landscape for anything familiar.

"What are you doing?" James asked who had come running past and seen us.

"What nothing. I mean I wasn't even doing anything, what's with all these questions?" I said quickly not wanting to worry him.

He raised an eyebrow and looked at me suspiciously. "I don't know what you're up to. But when something bad happens, I'm blaming you."

"Were lost." Ani said still scanning the horizon.

"Lost?" James asked looking around.

"Yes but don't worry, I can find the way home." I said we walked for about 10 minutes me stopping every now and then to pick up some grass and smell it. I really had no idea what I was doing but I didn't want James worrying.

"How far do you think we've gone?" James asked.

"We'll, judging by that rock formation over there… about twelve feet." I answered too worn out to pretend anymore.

"What if were lost forever?" James sighed.

"We won't be."

"I just want you to know, if some crazy couple finds me and then raises me as a girl, it's your fault." James said folding his arms as he started to shiver. The sun had nearly gone down now.

I took of my jacket and wrapped it around James. He smiled and instantly stopped shivering.

"Stay here, I'm going to go over that hill and see if I can see anything." Ani said as she started walking off.

I wasn't going to argue but was still extremely grateful to her for volunteering. I sat down next to James who had started building a little town out of sticks and rocks.

"I think it needs a school." I said picking up two small sticks and balancing them on each other, only to have them fall straight back down.

"No we don't, everyone is born smart." He answered not looking up.

"That's excellent James." I smiled at his consideration.

"And anyone stupid will be ground up for food." He said simply.

I leaned back but couldn't help laughing. About 10 minutes later Ani came back.

"I know where we are." She said proudly.

We followed her over the hill and around the corner of the forest I had never been happier to see the village. We were about 10 minutes away when I heard Ani scream I turned quickly to see the Bishop's comrade taking hold of her. He was the one who had poisoned me.

"We never finished last night." She spat in her ear. I saw her cringe and I immediately got out my knife which I kept in my boot. I held it behind my back and slowly walked forward.

"Your next." He snarled at me. Probably pretty sure that two women and an 8 year old boy wouldn't pose much of a threat. James had run up and kicked him in the shins repeatedly before he was thrown out of the way. With one swift movement I walked up to him still keeping the knife hidden he noticed at the last second what I was doing and lashed out his arm it connected forcefully with my wrist and a sharp pain went through it I had strength enough to drive the knife into his chest. He stumbled backward I didn't wait to see what happened next I ran over to James, he didn't have any injury's so I turned my attention to Ani her face was bleeding from where it looked like he had struck her.

"Are you OK?" I asked her.

She nodded and looked back to the Bishop's comrade. He was obviously dead, and it was then I realized what I had just done.

"Oh-oh." I said putting my hand to my mouth.

"What is it?" Ani asked as James came up next to me and grabbed my hand.

"I killed one of the bishop's friends."

"So?" Ani and James asked at the same time.

"So I'm going to go to prison, you can't just kill a high powered person without some kind of consequence." I answered.

"Why don't we tell Arthur?" Ani asked.

"What? Don't you remember how angry he got when I forgot to fix that gate? And this is like twice as bad." I said looking back down to the village to see if anyone saw. "Don't get me wrong I'm pro honesty, but I think Arthur might kill me and I'm anti being killed."

"We have to go back." Ani said

Without another choice we started walking back to the village. As we entered the gate I glanced over to Ani to see how she was holding up. Blood had dripped down her face.

"Ani we've got to get your face looked at." I told her. She nodded so we headed of towards the healer's. I pushed the door slowly open; it was a large room with about 15 beds, 7 of which were full with sick or injured people. When we walked in one of the healers came over.

"My, my, my what have we here?" a short woman asked clicking her tongue and inspecting Ani's face.

"I fell." Ani said casually.

"Alright come with me." She said walking over to a bed. Ani followed her as another women came up to James and I.

"I'll need to look at that wrist." She said motioning to my wrist which by now was throbbing with pain.

"Can you check him first?" I said motioning to James who as far as I knew wasn't hurt but just to be sure.

"Very well." She nodded leading James to another Bed.

20 minutes later and the healer was still fixing Ani. I sat down on the bed next to James who had no injuries but had gotten a cold. She had given him a glass of milk to make him feel better.

"Drink your milk." I said to him after I noticed he was staring into the cup.

"It's lumpy." He answered wrinkling up his nose.

"Then chew it." I said as he put the glass back on the table.

"Here you go." One of the healers said handing James a small glass with a red liquid in it. "It will make you feel better."

"No wait." Another healer said coming up with another cup full of blue liquid.

"James is allergic to those berries" she said referring to the red liquid.

"So?" The other healer asked coldly.

"Well, it's just that James is allergic to the red berries and I thought that the blue ones would make him a touch less dead." She said carefully.

"I know that when I go to the healers, I like not to die." I said pleasantly.

She gave me a look before walking of mumbling something about rudeness.

"Where are you going?" James asked as I walked over to the door.

"I have to see Arthur." I answered still anxious about what was going to happen to me but figuring I should tell him sooner rather than later. James stood up and ran out the door before me, I guess he was coming.

"Are you going to tell Arthur you killed the bishop's friend?" James asked as we walked along the hallway.

"Well, yes and no, I was thinking I could say something different; like he tripped and fell on the knife." I answered.

"I think you should tell the truth." James said wisely.

"I don't believe it you've turned into Tristan." I said looking down at him.

"Well, sometimes Tristan is right."

"You take that back." I laughed and started chasing him down the hallway. He ran just out of reach we both came to a stop when we reached the courtyard. Something was different, everyone was sitting around the pub drinking but the atmosphere was different people whispered when I came in and gave me obnoxious looks.

I didn't give it much thought though. James and I went over to the bar and I got him an orange juice. I paid an unusually high amount of money for it before handing it to James. He started drinking it quickly spilling a bit as he went.

"James, go easy on the orange juice. That stuff doesn't grow on trees…wait it does. So why is it so expensive?" I asked turning to the barmaid. She shrugged but not before giving me an icy look and turning around.

"Can we sit here?" I asked 4 people who were sitting at a table drinking.

"This table isn't really designed to fit 6 people." One of them answered coldly.

"Oh sorry, I guess I was thrown off by the 6 chairs." I said.

"See that's why we're not getting more land," one of the villagers yelled getting to their feet.

"What?" I asked more confused now than ever.

"The bishop didn't like your little spontaneous act you did in the play; he says it was the last straw. That you've been rude all week." The villager said finally sitting down.

"The bishop was going to give us more land, but I seriously doubt it now." Another villager yelled from his seat.

At that moment Arthur and the knights walked around the corner to see what the commotion was. I couldn't tell him now that would be the last straw if the bishop found out I had killed his friend he was sure to take away the land.

"What's going on?" Arthur asked before his eyes finally settled on me. I looked back at him and could tell he was disappointed, I couldn't take it I turned quickly an old women handed me a note before I walked out of the courtyard. I read the threatening letter while walking down the corridor, it explained how the town was not going to forgive me for this. I was looking down while walking and nearly ran into Ani.

"Jess what's going on?" she asked after seeing the look on my face.

I handed her the note and watched as she read it.

"Is that last word kill or fight?" she asked looking up.

"I think you're safe either way." I said. Angrily taking the note and throwing it at the wall.

"Did you tell Arthur?" she asked concerned.

"Are you kidding? That would just give the bishop another reason to take the land away."

"Jess…" she started but stopped as I interrupted her.

"Don't worry Ani, I'll figure this out you should get some rest." I said tiredly.

"Can I sleep in your room?" She asked cautiously. "I'm still a little uneasy from today.

"Sure" I nodded as we walked down the dark corridor to my room. I pushed the door open and was expecting Ani to look disgusted at my small messy room. It must have been a lot different to what she was used to. Instead she smiled. I was beginning to think I had gotten Ani all wrong from the start.

"Where do I sleep?" she asked as we walked into the room.

"Here." I said motioning to the couch.

"Does it turn into a bed?" she asked pulling at the sides.

"Yes it's a magic couch that opens up and angels come out who feed you grapes and sing to you while you sleep." I answered sarcastically.

Instead of getting annoyed at my sarcasm Ani just laughed I was beginning to like her more and more.

20 minutes later and Ani was asleep I sat up in bed trying to think of a way that might help the situation. All I could think of was a present or a peace offering, something like that. I sighed and got up walking out into the corridor. I thought of the most valuable thing I owned it was a large gold ring I wasn't sure how much it was worth but I thought it was worth a shot. I tried to remember were I had left it last and thought back to the time I had shown it to Lancelot to see if he wanted to trade it for one of his swords.

I sighed and leaned into the wall when I remembered it was in Lancelot's room. I didn't want to disturb him so I thought if I could get in and out without him waking up I would be fine.

It was dark and I could only see a few feet in front of my face. I found Lancelot's room and put my hand on the door knob carefully turning it the door clicked and I pushed it slowly open. The room was dark and I tried to make out the furniture. I slowly walked into the room shutting the door slowly behind me. I found the bed and realized there was nobody on it. Lancelot must have still been down at the pub.

I took a few more steps when a dark figure tackled me and pinned me to the bed.

Hey, Thanks too everyone who reviewed last chapter. Please review this time, constructive criticism, or just to say hi and how ur doing. I did a long chapter this time and it took me awhile so please review and put in the effort as well, it only takes a second thanks everyone XOXOXOXOXOXOX