Chapter 16: The Great Escape
Outside the castle, the rest of the rescue party were still patiently waiting for Garnet's signal, as several minutes had passed, and there had still been no indication that the others had succeeded. Connie was starting to get worried.
"Are you sure Garnet and the others are going to be alright?" she asked Peridot. "What if they get captured as well?"
"Relax Connie," the green fairy replied. "I'm sure they're just taking their time in locating the dungeon, considering how huge White Diamond's castle is."
"Besides," added Bismuth. "Garnet will likely have a backup plan in case something goes wrong, so don't you worry."
This made Connie feel all the more reassured. Meanwhile, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Steven were standing outside Jamie's cell door, where they could hear the stable boy lamenting to himself regarding his current situation.
"Oh Lapis, I finally know your name, but at what cost," he said solemnly to himself. "If only I hadn't left my friends behind to see you, then I would never have been captured, and you would still be awake."
The overhearing fairies began to feel incredibly sorry for him as he went on.
"Poor Jamie," Steven said sadly. "It's not his fault that Lapis was tricked."
The other fairies could only agree with this statement, for it seemed to them that Jamie was a kind and gentle person, who loved Lapis dearly. Not wanting to see him suffer any longer, Garnet took out her wand and aimed it at the cell door.
"I wish I could break myself free from these chains," the stable boy continued. "Then I would run to the royal castle and awaken you from your spell."
Suddenly, much to his surprise, Jamie's cell door disappeared and standing before him were the four fairies. The stable boy couldn't help but look in awe at what he was seeing.
"There's no need to fret anymore young man," Garnet informed quietly. "Your wish has been granted, for we've come to set you free."
Jamie couldn't help but smile at the magenta fairy's kind words, whilst Amethyst, Pearl and Steven used their magic to make his chains vanish. Before the stable boy could express his gratitude to the fairies, however, Pearl placed her finger on his mouth to avoid alerting anyone else in the castle.
"Now listen Jamie," the ivory fairy whispered. "We don't have much time to waste if you want to save Lapis, so we had better leave now, whilst nobody is keeping guard at the dungeon."
But before they could start their escape, Steven had a slight concern regarding Jamie's safety.
"Wait," the fairy prince asked. "If White Diamond or her minions come after Jamie again, he'll be defenceless, not to mention the number of dangers she could throw at him to prevent him from reaching Lapis."
"Not to worry Steven," Garnet replied, winking to her lavender and ivory colleagues. "We have the perfect solution for that."
Amethyst and Pearl agreed, and with a wave of their wands, the three fairies conjured a sword and shield for Jamie, much to his and Steven's amazement. The weapons looked magnificent, glistening in a rosy shade of pink.
"These weapons will help you to triumph over evil," Garnet explained. "Consider these as gifts of virtue on behalf of Rose Quartz herself."
"This is great," replied Jamie as he admired the weapons. "Although, I've never used a sword and shield before. What if I accidentally hurt someone due to their weight?"
Garnet smiled and told Jamie to give the sword a swing. To his surprise, Jamie found that despite their size, the weapons were quite light in his hands. With everything now set, the fairies escorted Jamie out of the dungeon making their way up the stairs, to which they needed to find a set that led to the castle entrance. Along the way they came across a window near the front of the castle, to which Garnet shot a sprinkle of fairy dust outside, alerting the others.
"They've done it!" Bismuth exclaimed. "Now it's our turn to help out."
So, Bismuth instructed both Peridot and Connie to distract Jasper, thereby allowing her and Lars to open the entrance gate to allow Jamie and the others to escape. With this strategy in mind, both Connie and Peridot ran and flew towards the drawbridge respectively, alerting the orange minion immediately.
"Get lost you two!" Jasper yelled. "You have no business being here!"
"We know," replied Connie cheekily. "We just came to tell you how much a sad joke White Diamond is."
"Indeed," added Peridot. "As if she or her dumb minion brutes like you would ever stand a chance against Rose Quartz."
And with that, they sped off laughing, leaving Jasper infuriated.
"Nobody insults me and gets away with it!" the orange minion fumed as she spread out her demonic wings. "Now get back here!"
Soon Jasper began perusing Connie and Peridot, thus leaving the drawbridge unguarded. Bismuth and Lars saw this as their chance and raced towards the entrance as fast as they could, to which they spotted a lever that would allow them to open the gate.
Back inside the castle, the fairies and Jamie had made firm progress and found a staircase that would lead them to the castle entrance. Unfortunately for them, Aquamarine, who was getting more refreshments for the celebration was making her way down the same staircase. There she caught sight of the prisoner and his rescue party and flew quickly back to the throne room to inform Eyeball and the other servants, much to the fairies' dismay.
"Listen up, you bumbling fools!" the light blue minion shouted. "Our prisoner is escaping thanks to those stupid fairies! We mustn't let them escape!"
Furious that their mistress' plan was being thwarted, Eyeball and the others raced down the staircase following Aquamarine's lead. Downstairs, Jamie and the others could hear their cries of rage drawing closer towards them, so they began to make haste to the castle entrance, hoping that White Diamond's minions wouldn't catch up with them.
Meanwhile, Connie and Peridot were continuing to rush away from Jasper, all whilst throwing more mischievous insults at her. Although Connie was beginning to feel quite exhausted from all the constant running.
"How much longer do we need to keep going?" she asked.
"Only until Jamie and the others make it out of White Diamond's castle," Peridot replied. "That way we can ensure that they get out unscathed, to which we can then join them later."
As for Lars and Bismuth, the former was trying his best to pull the gate lever but was struggling with how large an amount of force was needed to shift it.
"How can one person such as Jasper be able to pull a lever this heavy?" he groaned. "She must be a bodybuilder."
"Maybe, but can a bodybuilder do this," replied Bismuth cheekily, who with a wave of her wand, caused the lever to move with no problem, thus raising the metal gate.
Unfortunately, Jasper heard the gate's clanking sound and realised that she had been fooled.
"Not on my watch!" she cried as she flew back to her post much to Connie and Peridot's shock. Suddenly, an idea flew into the latter's head, so she told Connie to wait outside the entrance whilst she flew after Jasper.
With the entrance now clear, Bismuth and Lars entered the castle. Inside, they saw Jamie and the other fairies, who had just reached the entrance's floor, racing towards them. Both the stable boy and the four fairies saw the exit in view, along with Bismuth and Lars gesturing to follow them. However, to their surprise, Jasper had also arrived, where she stood right in front of the gate, determined that she alone could prevent the rescue party from escaping.
"Nice try," the orange minion spoke. "But you're not getting past me."
Left in a difficult position, Jamie, Lars, and the fairies didn't know what to do as Jasper was blocking them on one end and a horde of angry minions were coming down the staircase on the other. But they didn't need to think for long, as to their surprise, Jasper started levitating.
"What's going on!" she yelled. "Put me down this instant!"
"Not a hope," said a voice in return. It was Peridot, who used her magic to slow the orange minion down so that the others could escape.
"Now's our chance to get out of here!" exclaimed Garnet, as the rescue party rushed towards Peridot, with White Diamond's horde of minions almost at the bottom of the staircase.
Then, once they had made it out safely, Peridot, with a wave of her wand, flung Jasper across the room, causing her to collide with the angry mob of minions, who had just reached the bottom of the staircase. With White Diamond's forces out of commission and everyone else clear of the drawbridge, Peridot directed her magic at an opposing lever that was inside the castle, which caused the gate to drop behind her as she fled.
As Jamie and the others made it firmly outside, they noticed a figure waving at them. It was Connie, who had been waiting eagerly for them to escape. Jamie was so overjoyed to see his friend that once he and Lars reached her, they embraced Connie with a friendly group hug.
"Connie!" Jamie expressed excitedly. "I can't believe you and Lars came all this way to rescue me."
"Well of course we would, silly," replied Connie as she gave Jamie his locket back. "We would do anything to help you out, even if it meant impeding a wicked fairy's castle."
"Oh guys, I'm so sorry I abandoned you to see Lapis," Jamie continued. "I just wanted to see her again so I could take my mind off what Mr Dewey constantly told me."
"Don't worry about that, we're just happy that you're safe," said Lars. "Besides, after he finds out that your secret admirer was the princess, I don't think he'll be messing with you again."
As the stable hands embraced, the fairies looked on happily, thrilled that all three of them were finally reunited. That was until Pearl interrupted them.
"As much as I hate to break up this reunion," she spoke. "We've still got to make it back to Blue Diamond's castle and wake Lapis."
"Indeed," added Garnet. "And I think it would be best if we left now before White Diamond finds out that Jamie escaped, and she sends her goons to go after us again."
The others agreed, and without hesitation, they headed back towards Blue Diamond's castle, where both Rose Quartz and the slumbering Lapis would be waiting for them.