Author's Note: My longest chapter yet! Please review!
Jane hurriedly made herself decent and ran to the sound of the blowing horn. When she arrived at the source of the noise, she found a riled up Gunther and an unhappy Prince.
"What in the name of flying rabbits is going on here?!" Cuthbert screamed over the horn.
Gunther finally put the horn down as Jane entered the room. "He ran. When I blew the horn, he ran! But I figured something out."
"And what, pray tell, would that be?" Jane calmly inquired. She was not happy about losing a moment of sleep.
"The prisoner, he wore white?" Gunther responded.
"Yes, but-"
"And the assassins we killed, they wore pure white?"
"Well, yes, but what does-"
"This man wore white as well."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"What was Sir Theodore talking about recently, that when he was fighting for Harun al-Rashid, there was a group of assassins that wore pure white, and many of the lower members had their tongues cut out."
"But that was in the Middle East. How did they get here?"
"I don't know, but I don't see what it could be, but hired knives."
"You stay here, protect the Prince. I shall so to Sir Theodore about this," Jane decided, as it seemed the best plan at the moment. She turned around and headed for the King's chambers, where she was certain that she would find Sir Theodore. She did not, however, feel Gunther's eyes on her as she left, watching her red hair bob down the hallway.
When Jane found Sir Theodore, she explained Gunther's theory, and Sir Theodore responded that it would be very simple to get to Kippernium, as any merchant ship would have food and water stored enough for eighty men, and it would be easy to hide trained assassins. Sir Theodore instructed her to then visit the knight's quarters and gather anyone who had not yet answered the call. Then she would go back to the Prince's rooms, and take Cuthbert to the grand hall. There she would find the King and Queen. A score of knights would be left to defend the royal family, another score for the rest of the castle, and the other two score knights would go in search of the assassins.
The hour found them saddled on forty horses, riding out to catch assassins. As they followed the tracks of the latest assassin, it soon led them to the small clearing where they had caught the prisoner and killed three assassins. They searched the clearing for a hint of further trail, until finally, it was found beneath some bushes. Sir Theodore gestured for Jane to continue alone, as she was the smallest and one of the best trackers.
Jane dismounted, and soon found herself alone in the forest, searching for a den of murderers. Finally, the trail ended in a T, which intrigued Jane. She waited a few moments, hiding herself, when sure enough, a man dressed in white ran through the forest, looking every which way. Jane silently followed the sentry, and eventually found a camp of about twenty. She quickly noted the tent where several men, and a few women, where eating in silence, the tent where a few men stood on guard, and a tent where the rest must sleep. She hid herself once more, waiting for a sentry to pass, and followed him in a wide circle that made it's way back to the T. She then made her way back to the knights, and informed them in great detail of the layout of the assassins camp.
All of the knights dismounted, and silently followed her through the greenery. The birds of the forest, which had been singing cheerfully, abruptly stopped in preparation of the coming blood shed. When they came to the T, they waited for the sentries to pass, slaying each one as he ran by and then hiding the bodies. Soon, they had four dead men and one dead woman, and no one had passed in quite some time. Jane led them to the clearing entrance, where the knights split up, twenty one way, twenty the other, to make a tight circle around the camp.
The knights of Kippernium where not known for their ferocity. In fact, most of the knights of Kippernium were poorly trained and lived fat until they retired. Very few were as athletic as the old Sir Theodore, or any of the squires that had been left behind. But as Sir Theodore imitated the call of the owl, signaling the attack, you never would have known. Within the first quarter of an hour, ten more assassins were dead, but following that, the assassins regrouped and killed ten knights. It was quite a bloody battle, and as the sun rose, shedding red light on the clearing died red with blood of men and women.
When finally, the battle was won, the remaining fifteen knights entered into the bloody job of assuring that every single enemy was dead. Gunther looked around the clearing for the blessed red haired woman whom he admired in vain. He simply could not find Jane, as hard as he tried. Once all of the dead were dead, they were dragged into a pile and set alight. Then, the knights began to look for their own dead and injured. Slowly, every knight found his comrades.
Sir Theodore was found dead by many wounds, and Sir Ivon was bleeding heavily. But hard as Gunther looked, he still could not find Jane. Finally, as the knights began to make their way back to the castle, Gunther heard a quiet rasping. He made his way to the source, a still log. He slowly drew his sword, fearing the worst, but he instead found the one person whom he had been looking for since the battle had begun. He ran to her side, and quickly attempted to tend to her wounds. Gunther called out for help, and some of the senior knights made their way. When they found Jane lying unconscious, they told Gunther not to bother, she was as good as dead. Gunther refused, and once all of her wounds were bound, he then allowed them to place her upon shield with the rest of the dead and wounded.
The fifteen knights gathered the forty horses, and led them on foot back to the castle. They then sent all of the wounded to the kitchen, where Pepper and the wizard would do all that they could, and sent the dead to their families. The knights then rode back to the assassins' camp, looking for evidence of the man behind the murders. They found in the tent that had been guarded many papers, all of them covered with names of murderers and murdered. They grabbed all of these papers, and quickly rode back. By now, it was nearing noon, and while the King, Queen, and Prince were still heavily guarded, every remaining knight found themselves searching through the papers for the name of their own murderer.
When Jane awoke, it was with Pepper standing over another knight, her back turned. When Jane made a quiet rasp, Pepper turned around, fast as she could, and Saw Jane's green eyes fluttering open. "Oh, thank heavens! You're alright!" exclaimed Pepper. "You gave us all quite a fright. Who would have thought that the worst wounded would be the first to wake!"
"Sir Theodore?" Jane rasped, hardly able to speak.
"Let me get you some water. There. I'm afraid he's dead, but Sir Ivon is recovering well, and if he lives many think he will be the new captain of the guard. We lost fifteen knights, and ten are badly wounded, you being foremost of these. Wait till I tell Jester, he's been hovering over you, getting in the way. And Gunther will be happy, too. I mean, he did save your life."
Jane's eyes opened wide, and then closed again when she realized just how much pain she was in. She let out a groan.
"Oh! You'll be hungry! I'll get you some broth, and then let you rest. The wizard said the best thing to do is let you rest." Pepper fetched some broth and then allowed Jane to rest. It was almost dinner, and still no one had found any sign of the murderer.
Gunther walked into the kitchen, which was temporarily the hospital to find Jester holding Jane's hand. Gunther walked down, slowly, and sat on Jane's other side. He, too, grasped her hand.
"I understand you saved her life," mumbled Jester, still looking down at Jane's face.
"I did what any other knight would have done." Returned Jester, also watching her face contorted in pain.
"Actually, as I understand it, you defied a direct order to save her. Why would you do that?" inquired Jester, quickly glancing up.
"She is my comrade. She deserves to live," Gunther responded quietly.
"Then why have you been in here more often than me? The entire castle knows how I feel about her, after she told me off in front of all of the knights. What is your excuse?" Jester pressed.
Gunther mumbled something, and they both let it rest as Jane opened her eyes. They both dropped her hands, and put them in their laps. Jane mumbled something about puppies, turned her head and fell back asleep.
Jester and Gunther looked up, gave each other a nod of understanding, and watched her sleep until morning came.
Author's Note: Points for anyone who found a video game reference!