Author's note: Another one a little rough around the edges. Please for give me! The next one, I will have as close to perfect as I can manage!
On another note, I will not be posting until Saturday due to a wedding in New York! Marines are great and all, but my cousin scheduled his wedding on New Year's Eve, BLUGH! See you on Saturday!
"Jane, Gunther, it is time for you to learn one of the more ugly tasks that a knight must fulfill. Today, you will learn the art of questioning. If you will follow me down to the dungeons," Sir Theodore was instructing Jane and Gunther on their duties for the day. They walked silently behind him to a door in the castle that she had only seen used once, two days before, taking the assassin in.
They descended down a spiral staircase lighted by torches. Every now and then a dark hallway would break off into the darkness. Eventually, they followed one of those passages and continued walking. The further they descended, the colder it seemed to get. It must have been at least one half of an hour before they turned a corner to find Sir Ivon and Chamberlain holding a torch in front of a cell.
"Ye brought the wee pipsqueaks!" Sir Ivon exclaimed.
"You and I are not young and they will soon be knights. They need to know how to question," replied Sir Theodore.
"Very well," Sir Ivon turned his attention to the prisoner. "Well, you scum sucking maggot! We have some visitors for ye, mister whip and master fist. Now, who do you want to visit first?"
The Prisoner remained silent.
"Then it'll be both!" Sir Ivon motioned for the Chamberlain to open the cell and stepped inside. "Who hired ye!?" When the prisoner did not speak, sir Ivon hit him across the back with the cat o' nine tails. "Who hired ye!?" Sir Ivon drew his hand back for another strike when Sir Theodore reached to stop it
"Hold your hand Sir Ivon. Open your mouth, prisoner!" demanded Sir Theodore.
The prisoner opened his mouth, to reveal no tongue.
"Can you write?" The prisoner shook his head.
"This man is useless. Come Jane, Gunther. We must alert the King to this. Sir Ivon will deal with this prisoner."
The three of them began to leave when Sir Ivon suddenly yelled out, "Ach! This rascal had taken one of me knives!" They ran back to the cell to find the man impaled on one of Sir Ivon's daggers. They all muttered a string of curses.
The five of them, including Chamberlain, began to climb the stairs out of the dungeons.
After Sir Theodore finished the report to King Caradoc, he once again gave them the day off. They left the throne room, and just about then, Dragon executed an almost perfect landing in the practice grounds where they were standing. "I'm sorry I haven't been here in a few days, but I found a new tunnel in my cave, and there are more runes!"
"Excellent! I'll ask Pepper for a lunch and we'll make a day of it!" Jane was relieved, because the cave was a place where she would not have to see Gunther.
When Jane returned they headed off to patrol just a bit before spending the rest of the day trying to decipher the markings in Dragons cave. By the time Jane returned home, all thoughts of Gunther had long gone, as well as the sun.
Jane made her way upstairs to her bedroom, and for the first time since before the death of Princess Lavinia, she was not stopped along the way.