Chapter 9: Capturing a 'Prince'
For the next hour or two, Jamie, Connie and Lars worked their hardest to ensure that their jobs were completed to the highest standard. It had taken them a fair while, but once everything was sorted, the three stable hands were nothing less than relieved. Feeling exhausted, all three of them sat down on a nearby bench not only to catch their breath but also for Jamie to discuss more about his encounter with Lapis to his friends. As they were chatting amongst themselves, Mr Dewey returned and inspected the stable to ensure he was satisfied with their condition.
"Impressive," he said to his stable hands. "It took you all long enough, but I must say I am quite pleased with your work."
"No problem, sir," said a tired Lars, to which Connie and Jamie repeated in agreement.
"Now then, I must be heading home," the stable master spoke. "I would like you all to watch the horses for the next hour, then you may return home."
Connie and Lars both agreed before Mr Dewey once again turned his attention to Jamie.
"Also, in your case," the stable master said sternly to the young man. "I don't want to hear any nonsense about meeting girls, either to me or your colleagues, for the rest of this week."
With that final word, Mr Dewey made his way home, leaving Connie and Lars feeling quite disgruntled about what he said to Jamie.
"As much as I like working with horses," said Lars unhappily. "Dewey just makes things more difficult thanks to his attitude and constant orders."
"I couldn't agree more," added Connie. "So, what if Jamie met someone today, that doesn't mean he has the right to be dismissive towards him."
Jamie on the other hand was so aggravated by his master's treatment throughout the day, that he decided to leave early. So, he got up, took out what looked to be a locket of some kind, and made his way to the main stable gate.
"Jamie, where are you going?" asked Connie. "You can't leave yet, what will Mr Dewey say?"
"I don't care what he says or thinks," replied Jamie. "The mysterious girl agreed to meet me again tonight by the great oak tree, and I am not letting Mr Dewey's constant orders put a stop to that."
This response made Connie and Lars grow increasingly concerned about Jamie and tried to reason with him to stay and talk about how he was feeling once more. But this proved unsuccessful as, in a flash, Jamie had begun to make his way towards the forest, claiming that he 'needed to clear his head'.
"Oh dear," said Connie worryingly. "He's persistent about meeting this girl. Should we go after him?"
"I'm sure he'll be back eventually," Lars reassured her. "But if he doesn't come back in an hour or so, we'll go out to look for him."
As the two friends continued their conversation, Jamie had begun to pick up the pace and started running his way to the forest, which by now was becoming much darker. He eventually slowed down for a bit afterwards to catch his breath as he knew that he was getting closer and closer to the great oak tree, where Lapis had promised to meet him.
"At any moment, I'll be there and will once again be with my beloved," he thought to himself. "And then I'll prove that nothing can stand in the way of love."
Little did Jamie know, however, that Jasper, Eyeball and Aquamarine were waiting there already, prepared with their set of ropes to capture the young man for their mistress. At last, Jamie reached the great oak tree and had caught up with his breath. He observed the area to see if the young maiden was waiting for him.
"No sign of her yet," he thought to himself. "Perhaps I'll wait here for a bit until she arrives."
Suddenly, without warning, the three minions pounced on the stable boy like a pack of wild wolves and began to quickly tie his hands and body with the ropes, before Eyeball wrapped a piece of cloth around his mouth, to stop him from screaming for help. During this struggle, Jamie's locket escaped his pocket and landed close to the oak tree. Soon, the stable boy was now bound and gagged, unable to release himself from the tight ropes holding him.
"Perfect," chuckled Aquamarine with devilish delight. "Our mistress will be very pleased with who we just found."
"Indeed," added Jasper. "Now let's take him to her before the sun sets any lower."
So, the three minions began carrying the helpless Jamie back to White Diamond's castle, being careful not to be spotted by onlookers as the stable boy struggled. Once they had arrived back, White Diamond was initially sceptical about who they had captured.
"Are you sure that this is the one the princess spoke of?" she asked.
"It must be, Your Excellency," replied Aquamarine smugly. "For this young man here spoke of meeting his 'beloved' by the great oak tree."
White Diamond lifted herself from her throne and inspected her latest captive firmly. She found his attire to be rather dull, indicating that he was not of the highest position in the kingdom.
"Interesting," she said. "I was expecting maybe a prince, but instead I receive a mere peasant as my latest captive."
Jamie tried to speak to the wicked fairy, but his words were muffled by the cloth around his mouth.
"Eyeball!" White Diamond commanded. "Take that rag out of his mouth, his mumbling is getting annoying!"
The red minion obeyed and violently untied the cloth, allowing Jamie to speak more easily.
"What's going on?" the stable boy asked worriedly. "What do you want with me? What have I done?"
The tall fairy just smiled a wicked smile as she placed her hand on her captive's right shoulder. "Oh, my dear, you've done nothing wrong," she said. "I will reveal why I 'requested' you here in due time."
White Diamond soon turned around and chuckled, knowing that her plan was now going in the direction she intended.
"Jasper, Eyeball," she requested. "Take our guest to the dungeon, and have some of my guards watch him until further notice."
"Yes, Your Excellency," replied the two minions as they dragged the stable boy to the gloomy depths of White Diamond's dungeon.
The dungeon itself was dark and murky, although surprisingly, there were no other prisoners present as White Diamond rarely kept her 'guests' for long periods of time. Once Jasper and Eyeball had found an appropriate cell of choice, they clamped Jamie's hands into the chains hanging on the walls, before putting a ball and chain on his right leg to prevent him from moving. With their task complete, the two minions left, leaving the stable boy struggling to break free from his shackles, but to no avail.
"The job is done, Your Excellency," said Eyeball. "Our guest won't be going anywhere at this point."
"Wonderful," White Diamond replied. "Soon the kingdom will rue the day that they underestimated me."
The three minions could only agree in succession. The wicked fairy then looked out of her window, to observe the royal castle once again and she could see that the sun was sinking even lower.
"It appears that we've only got a little amount of time left," declared White Diamond. "Let's all get going, I have a special, last-minute gift to deliver to the young princess."
So, with a slight cackle, the wicked fairy and her minions made their way to the royal castle, where they were intent on luring the princess to the forgotten tower, to fulfil her destiny.