Jane and the Dragon Christmas Special!

By Stor-E-Phool

"Jingle Bells"

JxJ

Jane, Jester and his bells have fun dashing through the sky on a dragon who just discovered Eggnog.

There was an air of excitement zinging in Kippernium Castle as preparations for the Christmas Eve Ball were being made. The Cook was baking, the Stablehand was readying the sleighs for rides, the Gardener was hanging mistletoe and holly, the King was readying his speech, the Ladies-in-Waiting were sewing for Lords and Ladies, the resident dragon was taking his fill of eggnog...

...and we knights were on the look out for potential villians who might very well be lurking beyond any corner.

I mounted the watchtower on the East side of the castle, watching for any unfamiliar faces in the crowd gathering below. Yup, there was Philip the farmer... there was Marquis the Mercenary... there was Sarah the Seamstress... all familiar faces. But there was still the chance that a Terrorist could slip through if I did not pay close enough attention.

Suddenly I heard screams coming from inside the castle, behind me in the courtyard. I swerved on my heel and leaped from the wall, landing smoothly on a pile of hay and jumping up, every sense alert.

"What happened?" I said with authority, and the startled faces of the castle staff looked at me. They pointed toward the Southwest wall of the castle, where a large green reptile sat with at least seven or eight newly emptied barrels of eggnog strewn round about him. The dragon swayed from side-to-side with obvious wooziness from an encroaching sugar-rush.

Upon my approach, the reptile looked at me with a crazy stare, eyes dialated so that there was only a thin circle of orange iris rimming his pupils. I sighed.

"JaneIwantmore!" he told me, lips flapping like a hummingbird's wings, so fast that they were barely visible. I shook my head slowly, and he reeled his head back in dispair, looking at the sky, "!" he called quickly, voice highpitched and cracking from the sugar, "! I'!"

"I highly doubt that, Dragon. No more eggnog for tonight. Now hurry along and stop scaring these fine people!" I said firmly, banishing him away from the courtyard so that the castle staff could go about their duties without interruptions from the large scaly beast.

I frowned and returned to my post, scanning the faces of the gathered towns people.

"Jane?" came a slightly timid voice from behind me, and I turned around to see the angluar face of the castle's self-proclaimed Fool: Jester. His face was curled into a soft smile.

I faced him, eyebrow cocked inquisitively. "Yes, Jester?"

"I-I was wondering if... if you were busy." the boy glanced at his feet, Fool's Hat jingling musically with every move of his head.

"Terribly, Jester." I informed him, gesturing to the crowd below, "We knights must work to keep everyone safe during this festive season."

Jester's face contorted into surprise. "Don't you... aren't you going to take a break, Jane?" he asked, and I shook my head.

"The enemies of the crown never rest, Jester." I put my fists on my hips and straightened my back as I stared into the sky, "...and so, too, must it be for the defenders of the crown!" my voice rang heroically in the air, and I looked back to Jester's thoughtful face. "I appologize, Jester, but I must return to my duties, as should you."

"Yes..." He said dreamily, "My job... generating smiles..." with that, the Fool wandered away, jingly hat jingling profusely, and I returned to scanning crowds with a trained eye.

.oO0Oo.

"Dragon, no!" I cried, pulling at the claws now wrapped around my waist, "Put. Me. DOWN!"

"Eggnog, Jane! Eggnog..." Moaned the beast, horned head reeling back with passionate memories of the drink, "A lifetime supply of liquid happiness!"

We were in the king's courtyard, the tops of the pear trees brushing my crimson hair. Dragon had lured me from my post on the wall with an urgent call and into the Christmas-decorated snow-caked garden, after which he had hefted me into the air by my waist.

"A lifetime supp... Dragon, put me down this instant!"

"Calm down, Jane." Came a musical voice from above. At the sound of a Jingly Bell hat, I looked up into the face of the castle Fool, mounted on Dragon's back, a grin adorning his face.

"Jester!" I exclaimed, frusteration seeping into my voice. I wiggled as hard as I knew how to get out of the reptile's grasp. "Let me go, Jester. You are interfering with my duty..." I moaned after giving up.

"I am afraid I cannot allow you to escape." the Fool replied, "...For that would interfere with my duty..." he grinned, "...making you smile!"

With that, Dragon threw me onto his back behind the blue-clad boy, and quickly mounted into the air before I could slide onto the ground to make my escape. Jester's bells sang in the wind as it whipped by. With my stomach reeling from the sudden take-off, I found myself clinging to the wiry waist of the Fool in front of me and closing my eyes against the image of the swiftly passing forest below.

"Jane," he mumbled, and I hugged him tighter, as if I had never ridden dragonback before, "...Open your eyes and relax, Jane."

I cracked my eyes open slowly and instantly felt my body loosen as a result. I straightened myself a little bit, but continued hugging to Jester closely. His hat continued to jingle.

"Look." Jester said, pointing toward the West, and I followed his finger to the sunset.

The sun was a golden half-circle against the crimson horizon, causing diamonds of light to dance off of the snow. I hugged Jester closer and layed my cheek on his shoulder blade.

"It's beautiful, Jester." I sighed, and saw him smile out of the corner of my eye.

"Yeah," He replied, then patted Dragon's mammoth neck. "Take us down, Dragon."

Without an overabundance of grace and poise, the flying lizard swooped onto the rocky cave mouth overlooking the kingdom of Kippernium below.

The cliff's view of the sunset was even more spectacular than usual: for the cave's mouth was decorated with glittering snow and ice and Christmas bells and bows. Strewn across the whiteness of the snow were velvety red rose pedals and more silvery bells, jingling softly as the breeze brushed through them. In the center of the cave's out cropping was set up a little wooden table dressed with silver dishes and candlsticks, one of Pepper's Christmas partridge roasts steaming in the center of it all.

"Jester, what is..." I began, but he smiled at me.

"I thought you might have a better vantage point for spotting terrorists up here." he winked and pulled out a chair for me at the table with an eccentric bow. I grinned and took the seat with a curtsy.

He sat down as well, and we began the feast talking and laughing as I felt I had not done in months. All worries of an attack on the crown were out of my head as my anxiety melted away with the heat of my cheeks. The stress-knots in my stomach untied themselves and I was at peace as we finished eating, stomach distended and warm with that lovely feeling which only comes on Christmas Eve.

Jester and I sat on the edge of the cliff as the jolly sounds of the Christmas Eve Celebration Ball began to usher up from the castle below, watching the lights and the people, like bugs, scurrying happily to and fro within its walls. Dragon dwelled in the back of the cave, drinking the barrels of eggnog that Jester had bribed him to help kidnap me with.

As the sun winked out at the horizon, the blue light of the moon still shone down on the night and sparkled in the Fool's silvery eyes. I held my breath as I felt his big, warm hand close around my cold one and looked nervously up at him.

"I... I have a Christmas present for you." He told me, and pulled out a little box with a blue, puzzle-patterned bow on it and handed it to me.

I opened the small box and found a ring at the bottom of it: a ring with a little silvery bell where the stone might have been. It jingled as the Fool slid it onto my finger.

"When you hear Jingly Bells, I want you to think of me," he muttered, looking away from my eyes bashfully. I smiled.

"I already do." I told him, leaning my head on his shoulder and holding his hand in my lap with both hands. He was so warm.

Behind us I heard the scratch of claw on stone and looked up to see Dragon standing over us, something green and red dangling from his jaws. I smiled.

"Jester?" I said, and he brought his eyes to mine timidly. I let go of his hand and stood on my knees, a head taller than him as he sat with his legs dangling over the cliff. I wrapped my forearms around his neck and interlocked my fingers to rest on his rightside shoulder, ring jingling softly as I moved my hands.

Jester's eyes went from me, to Dragon, to the mistletoe and finally back to me just as I touched my lips to his for our first kiss. I did not move for a long while, just feeling his warmth and waiting for a reason to break skin contact. It never came.

"Merry Christmas, Jester."

A/N: Meeeeerry Christmas! And so begins Stor-E-Phool's great Jane and the Dragon Christmas Special! :)

Now. Remember that in each chapter is hidden one or two items relating to the corresponding day-of-Christmas... today was the first day of Christmas, so we have two words concealed into the settings of the story: pear tree and partridge. Keep a look out for the Day-of-Christmas story search for each story! :) Report them in your review, and recieve a free shipping of virtual Christmas cookies and eggnog! :)

Celebrating our Saviour's birth,

Stor-E-Phool