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Black Knight chapter 5

-X-

Princess Misaki Kirihara jumped onto her bed, hoping for dear life that all this was just a nightmare… she knew it wasn't, it was a living nightmare. Outside she saw that most of the soldiers were missing, most likely mourning her father's death, but the rest were talking animatedly to each other, drinking and singing, as if this tragedy hadn't befallen them. She realized at that moment that this was planned… and Li could or could not have had anything to do with what she now knew was a conspiracy.

"They might come after me next…" she spoke in a whisper even though she was alone. Looking back once more at the soldiers enjoying themselves, the princess resolved to leave the very place she grew up in.

The moon was shining bright in the dark sky when Misaki threw down the rope sheet. She climbed down swiftly but carefully, finally landing on the fresh patch of grass in front of her window. She looked around for any sign of life before proceeding forward to the stable, where the only thing she was sure wouldn't betray her, resided.

"Hey Gohan." Misaki pulled the black stallion from his place and guided him outside to the clear night. "I'm going to say this is our last ride Gohan. Let's get out of here." As if understanding her every word, the horse neighed softly, taking to a run as soon as she got her hands on the reigns. The soldiers at the post were all asleep; they were drunk from the night's partying. Gohan and his speed made it over the gate with no problem and together the duo rode into the village.

The moon watched over the princess, leading her to Mrs. Jo's place. Misaki had taken a liking to Mrs. Jo the moment she had invited her inside of her house; she was a sweet lady who seemed to care about others dearly (that Misaki already knew). Misaki slowed Gohan and jumped off, keeping him in her hands as she walked over to the door. The lights were off inside of the house on either side of the street, but Mrs. Jo's house had a particular feeling to it. Misaki knocked lightly on the chipping wood door. "Mrs. Jo?" Misaki waited; nothing. "Mrs. Jo?" Nothing happened again and she knew something wasn't right. Somehow, Gohan had gotten free from her and he was at the neighbor's house, grazing for what little grass he could find. "Gohan…" whispered Misaki. She ran to him, trying to get him from getting too the house. He was right across from the window, his face was, and in order to grab the reins and actually control him, she had come up beside him. She turned, faced the window, and what she saw almost made her scream.

Misaki had just noticed the horse. In front of her, she hadn't noticed that the man who lived across from Mrs. Jo had been watching her, all this time. He was watching as her horse went over to his yard, grazing the weedy patch of yard for little sustenance. The horse came closer, and he knew he should have closed the curtain, but he didn't. Misaki walked up to the horse, and grabbed the reins. When he still didn't move she mouthed a silent exasperated shout and turned to face the window. On the other side of the window, she saw the darkness behind the small crack in the curtains. Then out of nowhere a yellowish eye shot out at her; the man had blinked. She held in her scream as the yellow eye kept staring at her, penetrating her own innocent eyes. She jumped onto Gohan and ran into the night again, going God knows where… so long as she got away from those eyes… They were sad, and almost full of guilt, but why?

The wind stood still this night, neither blowing a loose leaf off a bare tree nor cooling the princess's fevered skin. She rode on Gohan still, who was not at all sure when his master wanted him to stop. Misaki opened her eyes and remembered Li's warm comfort… oh how she missed that.

"Princess…"

Misaki continued out into space forgetting about everything around her. The ride had gotten smoother she noticed, in fact it had outright stopped. Gohan had stopped running through the night for a snack that had happened to be on the road. "Gohan, really? I'm sorry that all I've been doing was making you run, but we can't stop…" Somehting sounded behind her and she turned abruptly.

"Princess, over here." Misaki looked to the woman and almost broke down when she saw the smiling face.

"Why are you here? Why aren't you at home?"

"Princess, we'll talk later, but first we need to get inside."

"Quentin!" Keigo walked inside of the newest addition of Quentin's chambers.

"What is it Keigo?" Quentin looked to the commander-in-chief. He looked in place in his cushioned throne.

"I am awaiting your order sire. I can go and take what I need to the village right?"

"Why not… I will not tolerate any—" Hubert came from the door walking slow-like. "Wait a minute," he said turning to address Hubert.

"Your highness. I have news. I believe to have seen the princess roaming Mrs. Jo's house sir… and the witch… she hasn't been back yet." His voice had a hint of something in it that was left undetected.

"Hubert, I thank you for all your spying, and I think it better you go home now. We shall deal with them both."

"How so sir?" He asked.

"Is that concern I hear?" asked Keigo smiling a malicious smile.

"No, no…"

"When it comes, it shall come, now get back home."

Hubert left the castle in as much as a rush as it took him to get there. The sun was shining dully down on him, getting ready for its slumber. Hubert reached his house, glancing at Mrs. Jo's house longingly before going back to the task at hand. He opened the door and entered.

Hubert's house was dark when he entered it. The sun's dying rays blocked by the heavy tapestry that hung from the windows. He walked expertly through the boxes that were stacked beside the wall, through the trash piling up in the various rooms. Hubert went inside of his room and sat in behind a table looking out at his neighbor's house. Hubert stared and stared at it, way into the night, and he continued to stare, staring, staring, and staring some more…

Hei tiptoed behind the man and waited a while before he turned the knob. It was unlocked. This was uncommon for old man Hubert to keep his door unlocked. Hei stepped inside and looked around the dark house waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dark. Nothing was heard, and nothing was obviously seen, but with silent and careful steps, Hei made it into the man's bedroom, where he was met with the sight of a man staring only at an empty house.

Hei walked up to Hubert, not at all trying to be discreet now. "What can you tell me about Quentin and Keigo?" Hubert continued to look forward, almost unblinking, and Hei was not about to waste time with the man. He was going to grab the man's collar, but the sigh that escaped his lips told Hei that he was willing to talk.

"They are to be feared…" Hubert turned to Hei to find out that it was in fact the man that Jo had saved, did not surprise him in the least. "They want to take over this village."

"Why?"

"Why else?" He walked up, stepping up to a light but not bothering to turn it on. "They want power… I guess."

"What about you?" asked Hei, "what is your part in all of this? Why help them?" Hubert looked at Hei, a long hateful look, but it transitioned to the guilty look that Misaki had seen through the window.

"I…"

"Either way, you're coming with me. I think I know how to make you talk."

Keigo walked into the barracks the next morning, yelling and slapping the metal structures of the bed to get his men awake. "Get up you bums!" he yelled taking no pity in how they were awakened. The men, like usual, lined up in front of him, in an orderly fashioned and stood at the ready for what he was to say. "Men!"

"Yes sir," they yelled in unison.

"It's time to exact my revenge!"

The soldiers walked three by four on the dirt road, stomping in step to the village. Here, they stopped at Keigo's command. "Men," he yelled again, so loudly that the villagers that were working outside had to stare. "Find them… the princess, take her alive, Mrs. Jo, take her either way, and Li… leave him to me. Destroy what you have to to get these people to talk, but make sure they tell you what they know. The man roared their approval and went to wreak havoc on an unsuspecting village.

Mrs. Jo turned on her bed and sat up to stretch the pains of the floor away. She stood, taking her time to get to the kitchen and prepare morning food for her and the princess. It had been late the other night and they were both too tired to continue their discussion at the house. They both went to sleep as soon as they entered the house.

Mrs. Jo slid herself over to the kitchen, seeing the bright sun's rays hitting the floor. How good a day it'll be today, she thought, a good and happy day to tell the princess everything she had found out only those days ago. Upon stepping into the kitchen, Mrs. Jo noticed she had an unwanted visitor tied up to a chair. Her scream rang loud, waking both the bound man and the princess, who ran to see what the problem was. Hubert looked at them both and Misaki remembered those eyes. She brought her hand to her mouth to keep herself from yelling out as she took a seat across from him.

"What are you doing here?" asked Mrs. Jo seething with rage.

"I don't know, this man brought me here and tied me up," replied Hubert.

"I want you out… I want you out now!"

"How can I get out you witch, I am tied up." Mrs. Jo made a move, but thought better of it.

"What's going on Mrs. Jo… do you know this man?" Hubert eyed the old woman who had small tears on her face, but they were tears of pain and anger.

"Yes princess I do."

"Who is this then?"

"His real name is…"

"Real name… are you saying you know?" Hubert's eyes were wide with fear.

"Of course," said Jo with spite, I found out a couple of days ago."

"Mrs. Jo," asked Misaki looking between the two of them, "what are you talking about?"

"This man, his real name is Goodwyn Jo… my ex-husband."

There was a warm glow of fire somewhere off into the distance, and the screams of the villagers trying to leave their house were in the air. The soldiers marched, on through, not giving a care in the world for the people they walked over. A few of them had horses with them, galloping ahead to get the best houses to destroy. The villagers ran past Hei and other soldiers. Kids were crying loudly as their parents pushed them with much haste out into the path less traveled.

Hei jumped up in the knick of time, just before the mace had a chance to pulverize him with its spikes. The soldier controlling the mace was a relatively skinny guy, almost too skinny to look like he could do any harm, but when his powers were activated he grew strength. He picked up a cart full of hay and heaved it at the contractor. Hei jumped again, bringing himself close to his foe before trying to electrocute him. The blue electricity coursed through the suit, but died off somewhere in the end. Hei was flabbergasted, but just as quickly had a look of satisfaction as he stepped back.

"You really thought that Keigo wouldn't have equipped us with suits against you? Don't make me laugh!" The soldier laughed, bringing his mace behind him to throw at Hei in a few seconds. Hei walked up with a new resolve, confusing the contractor. "What are you…?" Hei drew his hand from inside of his coat and produced a short sword. The sword was originally on the soldier, but being too caught up in using the mace and his powers, Hei was able to steal it effortlessly. The metal sword was impaled into the man and he fell limp, cart of hay falling straight down on his body. Looking back again at the earthy glow of the flames, Hei figured it was time to put an end to all this madness.

Hei knocked lightly on the small abode before entering. Inside of the kitchen, he saw the princess and Jo and Hubert all sitting around the table, but they were talking about something he felt he really shouldn't intrude in.

"What do you mean ex-husband?"

"Princess Misaki, I am sorry to be the one to tell you this, but it was my husband! He was the one who organized the others to kill your mother, the queen!" Tears flowed from the old lady's eyes as she brought her hands to her face. She was truly distraught about what her husband did, but she felt that she was the only one.

"It was years ago princess, when he and I first met. We had gotten married, we were young and seemingly in love, but you know as they say: 'You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having them both at once.' Oh how those words meant nothing to me; I had become free when he was arrested, but I was never once at peace, at least until a couple of years ago. Goodwyn was not the same man I had married when he realized how hard life truly would be when you actually had to work. You see," said Mrs. Jo, looking around to make sure they were listening, "Goodwyn came from a family that did things for him. His mom and sisters would cook and all he and his father and brothers did was sit around and waiting for jobs to come to them. He moved to this village when they had all died, about the time we got married, and the moment things went wrong, he took it out on me.

The man hit me so many times, but I only got mad for that day. I never left because I did love him, and I understood exactly how hard the transition was to the kind of life I was used to living." She was staring straight at Goodwyn, hoping to be able to get through to him; at least if he asked for forgiveness things would be better right? "It was almost a year into that that we had our first baby. The bills were piling up some more and I was pretty sure he was becoming more violent; he was so mad that he couldn't pay for our son's things… Your mother…" Mrs. Jo had a smile on her face as she reminisced about the queen, "she was a saint, helping us all as much as she possibly could. Of course she didn't offer to pay for our things, she offered to help, not do it for us. Goodwyn just hated when she came to help you see, because he was the type of man to want to do things himself. One day, the queen had announced that she was with child and trust me, I was happy for her, we both were. I remember us talking about it.

Around the time you were born, your mother had stopped coming around to help us. Goodwyn knew why, in face he took it as a challenge to get himself to try to pay for our son… things didn't go as planned and our baby boy…" Fresh tears fell onto the tabletop. The kitchen was silent as they all waited to hear what was next. "Goodwyn and I both together couldn't get ahead. It was either the house, or the food, and because we had a baby, we had to give up the food. He suffered for three whole days," Mrs. Jo wept, "three whole days starving hungry because we were broke, and needed the house. Goodwyn had gotten so upset over the loss that I believe he took it out on the queen. He would talk about her day and night, saying if she had come around to help, or if she had given us just a bit more… I understood, it wasn't her fault. Who could've guessed that our son would've died? There are poor families all over this village and they made it; it was just unfortunate for us…"

"And that's where your wrong you witch."

"What do you mean?" asked Mrs. Jo.

"The villagers, they were just as bad as we were. They suffered just as much as we had, but they didn't tell; I had to find out. I went around every night, just wondering what I could do to get my son back, but it was impossible…"

"Of course it was impossible!" the old woman yelled as if it was obvious.

"The village men were mad about their children dying while the queen's daughter survived; not only survive mind you, but had extra clothes to wear, and accessories and jewelry, and food. We deserved that right too!"

"But Goodwyn! Had she not helped us when the king stayed in his throne room! Had she not provided food when she could? She wasn't our mother, she was our queen, and she was doing her job… maybe even more so than her job entailed…"

"But Jo, she had to go!" There was a crazed look in the man's eyes as Misaki listened to the words that escaped his mouth. "How fair would it be… so I organized a group of willing men to attack her when she stepped off the carriage."

"Goodwyn," Jo said with sadly, "did you ever think that you had taken a mother from a child?" The words cut deep into Goodwyn's skin, causing him to look at a teary-eyed Misaki. His eyes were filled with guilt as she wiped away her tears.

"Why are you still alive? I remember they said they caught the man who had killed mom, why are you still alive!" Misaki yelled.

"Because…" Goodwyn said quietly, "they wanted my exceptional skills. I watched everything, and they, Quentin and Keigo, wanted a way to keep track of things in the village without the king knowing it first." He looked to Misaki again. "I'm not asking for your forgiveness, but I am going to tell you I am sorry. I realized too late that my actions were wrong, but not only for you, the whole village." Then he turned to Jo. "I know you want nothing to do with me, but please, I'm asking for your forgiveness… I truly did miss you and the son that could've been…"

"Why did you keep spying on me, and telling on me to the military?"

"When I saw the outsider, I was afraid for you, and I guess you can guess why I was spying…" he said with a rueful smile.

Mrs. Jo walked out of the kitchen, not saying a word to the estranged husband. Hei had moved out of the light so not to be seen, before he walked into the kitchen to see Misaki, still thinking about what she had just heard. "Li…" said Misaki. She had looked up, and became concerned about his appearance… (His clothes were torn and he was bleeding lightly) but the question of whether or not she should trust him came back into her mind. He saw her and stood where she was, as if expecting her to say something. "Li, I heard things…" She looked at him, straight in the eyes, willing him to say anything. "Are you really that man, the one called Hei, the contractor?" He looked away, not answering her question, but it didn't need to be put in words. She wasn't disappointed, in fact she was outright okay with it, she had wanted to get to know Hei in the first place, but got to know a nicer and sweeter side of him just as well. She continued to stare at Hei. "And my father?"

Hei walked up to the princess, standing close to her. "I didn't kill your father Misaki… it was Quentin and Keigo." She gasped lightly.

"Quentin and Keigo," she echoed.

"Yes."

"What are we going to do Li?" asked Misaki leaning into him as she talked.

"We have to fight them. They are destroying the village and I think by the time their done with it, there will be no longer be a village left for you or any body to rule."

-X-

A/N: Hubert was actually Goodwyn, who was actually Mrs. Jo's estranged ex-husband! Who woulda thought? Well not me! I thought it up on the fly, like with all other things I write, of course, and as long as I like an idea and it sounds good, I try to make it work.

The thing with their past was to get it so Goodwyn had a reason to kill the queen. Oh and last but not least, the peace quote said by Jo, was by Robert A Heinlein.