Chapter II

Jane woke with a start, a nasty start in fact.

Oh, what have they done to me now? She groaned as she pushed back the travelling blanket and looked around. She was met with darkness and while she no longer feared the dark, she did find herself to be afraid.

What was that noise?

It sounded like, like… growling?

Wolves?

No, this was different from wolves, far too deep for wolves, but no less terrifying; in fact it was far more terrifying than wolves!

"Dragon?" She whispers into the darkness and she hears the growling subside some as her great friend hisses down to her, "You're awake?"

"Yes, I mean, I am now. I heard a strange noise… was that you just then?"

"Horses are coming."

"What?"

"Horses are coming. Lots of them and all from this direction. They sound like they're wearing mail"

"What? Are you sure?"

She doesn't need light to know that he is giving her a very bland look with his very long face.

"Alright, I'll go and wake Sir Theodore… um, where ever he is."

"Wake them all up. I think we're about to meet those responsible for what's been happening to the villages." Jane felt a new surge of fear pump through her body.

"Are you sure Dragon?"

"I can smell the blood."

"What are you two talking about, be quiet and go back to sleep." Jane hears Gunther complain from somewhere near by.

"Dragon says he hears horses coming this way."

"So?"

"So he thinks they're the ones who are responsible for what's been happing to the villagers."

"WHAT?"

"We need to wake the Knights."

"Isn't someone on guard duty?"

"They won't have heard the horses yet." Jane said as she stood up, strapping her dragon's blade to her back. "Right Dragon?"

"Right."

"Well, keep listening and warn us when they get close while we go and wake everyone up." Jane told him before setting off, awkwardly stepping over bodies of squires, trying to find where the tents that the Knights are sleeping in. She tripped over a few squires despite how careful she was and she was cursed by those she accidently stepped on.

"Sir Theodore? Sir? I need to speak with you urgently, it's important."

"Blasted girl's has had a nightmare." She heard a Knight grumble somewhere close by. She must be near the tents!

"Hush now," she was relieved when she heard her mentor's voice cut sharply through the darkness, "Now, Jane what is it?"

"Dragon says he can hear horses coming this way and that he thinks that their riders are the ones who have been destroying the villages."

"And he would know that because?" She heard mentor ask but she could hear him moving towards her, despite the question in his tone.

"He says he can smell the blood."

"They're getting closer if you all want to wake up now!" Dragon's voice said loudly, cutting through the darkness.

This seemed to be enough to convince Sir Theodore that there was indeed a threat to their safety and roused the other Knights and their squires to their feet with a several barked orders. Not for the first time Jane was in awe of her Mentor's abilities as a Knight and Leader.

She soon found herself armed with her sword and a burning torch, between Gunther and Sir Theodore while Dragon was in the air above them.

She wished she could be up there with him, but the other Knights and Squires had complained and so she was down on the ground with them instead on Dragon's back where she belonged.

It seemed to be a long time before the threat that Dragon warned them of appeared. When pre-dawn light started to appear over the horizon and still no threat appeared, Knights and squires started to grumble and complain about being woke up needlessly, woken simply because a silly girl had said that her over-grown, flying lizard had said they were in danger.

They clearly weren't, they growled, so why couldn't they return to bed and get what little sleep they could before they started out once more.

Jane felt her face flame red as the comments grew louder and more aggressive. She was just beginning to wish for the ground below her to open up and swallow her whole when she saw that the horses were beginning to grow restless, their velvet ears flicking back and forth and snorting nervously to each other.

"Be quiet! Everyone!" Sir Theodore order over the din of complaining squires and knights. Immediately they fell silent and they all heard the sound that Dragon had warned them of. The thundering sound of galloping horses heading straight in their direction. Above her she heard Dragon snarl and after a moment she saw why.

The fifty or so horses that were galloping towards them were all black, all wearing heavy black and silver armour. The figures who rode these black steeds were also armoured in black and silver mail, with black helmets masking their faces and long, heavy coats flapping slightly in the dawn light.

Jane swallowed her terror as she watched them draw their swords, great and mighty weapons.

"Be brave, Jane." She hears Sir Theodore say before he says the same thing to Gunther.

She tries, she really does, but bravery doesn't seem to want stand by her today. In fact, she is fairly certain that she can see her so-called bravery running for the hills leaving her with only her terror.

Black armoured men reign in their horses a little way from them, though they did not sheaf their swords nor did they speak a word.

"Ho there," Sir Theodore called, "what is the meaning of this?"

Still nothing from them, even with Dragon snarling from above them. Jane could not understand how they weren't running away in terror. Dragon looked truly terrifying, even she, his best friend, was a little scared of him. In truth she was possibly more scared of him than the black armoured men, but overall she felt her fear of both were more or less on par with each other.

Jane clutched her sword tighter in her hands, her burning torch having burnt out some time ago; as she watched black armoured men dismount their horses as one.

"I said, what is the meaning of this?" Sir Theodore cried and Jane couldn't help but wonder why he was even bothering, it was obvious to all that these men were not going to stop and listen to him or speak their purpose.

Why am I so scared of them, she wonders as she watches them simply stand there in front of them, silent as death and looking quite like it too. They are ordinary men; they must be under all their armour, so why am I so scared?

Maybe because they're not ordinary men, the thought whispered its way in her mind as she suddenly found herself in the middle of the chaos that is known as a battle. And she wasn't the only one to be startled or surprised to be suddenly fighting for their life against these strange men.

Jane fought back a scream of terror as one lunges at her, though was quickly shoved away from her by Dragon's large body mass.

"Get on." He cries but she shook her head, running to help Gunther who is fighting three and is already in trouble. The first time her blade crashes against one of theirs, her arms felt like mashed turnips and she was exhausted in only a few moments.

She didn't pay much attention to the battle around her, only focusing on who she was fighting and making sure that she didn't hit either Gunther or Dragon.

She swung madly, catching the black armoured man that she was currently fighting off guard, her sword smashing into his side. She expected him to at least stagger back, not to explode in a shower of ash.

Ash?

She looked over to where Gunther was and sees that he is as startled as she is before both looked up at Dragon who was flaming high above them, but he's flames were nowhere near them…

Ash?

Were these men… men?

She kept on fighting and again she gained a lucky strike and again her opponent exploded into ash. Around her she can see similar things occurring with the Knights, when a lucky strike was made and the black armoured men would explode into black ash around them.

"Jane, look out!" She doesn't even think, her arm immediately moving up to shield her face before staggering backwards from the blow, excruciating pain ripping through her am from the deep would that the sword had inflicted. How she did not lose her arm, she would never know.

She fell to her knees in agony, dropping her sword and clutching her arm close to her, her eyes blurred with tears of pain.

"Jane!" She could feel her death coming, coming, coming… the wind swirling around her and she could hear a roaring sound growing nearer, nearer…

Then her death was gone and she was alive and kneeling in the middle of battlefield made up of ash and the few unlucky squires and knights who fell to the dark soldiers blades.

"Jane?"

"I'm alright Dragon." She mumbled weakly, still clutching her arm tightly to her body. She had no wish to look at it; she knows that she will faint or be sick if she does.

She does not remember Sir Theodore, bruised and bloody himself, binding her broken arm and stitching up the huge and ugly gash that cuts up the outside of her arm. She does not remember being congratulated by the almost embarrassed Knights for fighting so well in her first real battle.

She does, however, remember watching the more or less unharmed knights and squires building a pyre for those who had fallen during the battle, them saying words about honour and sacrifice before asking if Dragon would do the fallen the great honour of setting their souls free with his dragons breath?

He did so, but he didn't say anything. He simply set the pyre alight without a word before coming over and curling up by her side where she checked him over for any injuries.

"I'm fine Jane."

"I just want to be sure." She replies and he lies still as she runs her hand over his scales, not mentioning the tears that were rolling down her cheeks as she did so.

Jane knew she shouldn't have wandered away from camp, but honestly with Dragon by her side, what could possibly happen to her? Plus she needed to move or she herself might explode from the pain in her arm and for some reason moving, walking rather than sitting made the pain more bearable, so that was what she was doing. Walking, so she doesn't start screaming and crying in the middle of camp. She has only just gain a little respect among the other Knights and Squires, why ruined it by acting like a snivelling girl?

"What do you think will be done about the horses?" Dragon asked, looking over at the beasts that were happily grazing; they looked far less scary now in the bright sunlight of late morning than they had at dawn.

"Probably rid them of their armour and turn them free." Jane replies softly.

Dragon grunts his agreement with this plan.

They keep walking through the valley they camped and fought in, though they were trying their best not to think of the latter when they walked around a huge boulder to find a small, upturned carriage.

Dragon wasn't sure what it was, but there was something about that carriage or within that carriage that he did not like, not one bit.

"Jane," he hissed in exasperation as he watched his silly, red headed friend continue walking cautiously towards the carriage.

Jane carefully walked around to the back of the carriage, her hand lightly running over the door at its back. The lock on it was broken and with a bit of tug – harder than it should have been but as she only had the strength of one hand – the door fell open at her feet.

"Hello" Jane called into the carriage, not quite brave enough to actually stick her head in through the open doorway.

"Hel-lo?" Jane jumped back in fright. She hadn't actually thought anyone was inside it, especially not someone with such a beautiful, if not terrified voice. A woman was somewhere within the darkness of carriage.

"Don't be afraid." Jane said, trying to cover up her own fright, "I'm a squire Knight and I'm here to help you."

"But you are a girl child. I heard the great battle that was fought not so long ago. I would not have thought a girl child such as you would be involved in such a horrifying fight. You would not have been allowed, I would think"

"I did fight in the battle, my lady. I am apprentice Knight." Jane said, feeling surprisingly calm despite yet another display of doubt of her being a knight-in-training.

"Well then you are a very brave girl. Very brave, not many would stand and fight the Shadow Knights."

"Shadow Knights, my lady?" Jane asked, pulling a face at the word 'knight'. Knights were meant to be good and brave, slaying the evils of the land, not the ones to bring evil into it.

"Yes dear child, but please no more talk about them. I wish to be free of this dungeon."

"Oh… yes, of course. I am so sorry. I um…" she trailed of with a yelp as she jostled her injured arm in attempt to climb into the carriage so as to free the trapped woman inside.

"Jane?"

"Oh, Sir Theodore, thank goodness, there is a lady trapped within this carriage and I can not go in," she looked sheepishly up at her exasperated and tired mentor before watching him heave a tired sigh before he called into the Carriage.

"My lady?"

"Yes Sir Knight?"

"Are you hurt, my lady?"

"No, I simply cannot leave this carriage as I am chained to it walls."

Sir Theodore gave a nod before handing Jane his sword and climbed into the carriage. Jane stood back with the knights who had come with her mentor listening to metal chains being rustled and linking together before a heavy clunk of metal hitting wood. And then Sir Theodore was backing out of the carriage and holding out his hand for the most beautiful woman that Jane had ever seen in her life to take as she slowly stepped out of the carriage as well.

The woman truly was breath-taking. Possibly even more so than the queen!

Thick, raven locks hung down the woman's back, her face though smudged with ash and dirt was of a beauty that Jane had only thought existed in fables. Jane knew immediately that this woman was of noble birth and not simply because of her clothes, which must have been beautiful when they were new, but the way the woman held herself, like a queen.

"Thank you." her voice as rich and smooth that Jane felt she could listen to it forever.

"And you must be the lady squire who found me." the beautiful lady said as she looked towards Jane who felt her face glow red.

"Don't be shy child. I am grateful to you, so very grateful. I feared that I might die within that cage, to never see and feel the sun again."

"Well," Jane said shyly, "you are free now."

"Yes I am, thanks to you. Oh child," the woman's eyes had widened as she looked down at Jane, "you are hurt."

"Oh, um." She looked to Sir Theodore for guidance, "I'm fine, truly."

The beautiful woman smiled and took a step towards Jane, cupping her chin in her slim, white hand.

"Such a brave child. How old are you, my little Lady Knight?"

"I have just turned thirteen, my lady."

"So not a child after all, really, but a young lady, a young lady knight." Jane felt herself blush and ducked her head to try and hide her embarrassment, grateful when Sir Theodore stepped forward and started asking the Lady questions as to how she was captured by the dark knights.

"I was travelling." The Lady said softly, her eyes down cast, "I have always wished to see the world, to see the wonders that this land has to offer. I was travelling with my convoy, oh so far away from my home land when we were attacked by those knights. They killed my men and ladies and took me as their prisoner. I do not know how long I have been held captive by those vile men but I feel that it has been many moons circles and that I am now even further from my home land than ever before."

"You are safe now, Milady and if you wish, you are welcome to come back with us to Kippernia Castle or we can leave you to recover your strength at any village of your choosing."

The fair lady smile gratefully up at Sir Theodore.

"Thank you kind knight, I would be deeply grateful and honour to return with you to Kippernia Castle.

Sir Theodore nodded with a warm and welcoming smile as he held out his elbow for the lovely lady to take a hold of his elbow.

Jane stood respectfully back, as did the other knights as Sir Theodore led the Lady to where the horses had been tied.

Jane jumped when she heard the Lady give a startled gasp.

"That-That is a dragon." The Lady whispered her dark eyes wide with shock and amazement.

"Do you know much about dragons, milady?" Jane asked as she moved to stand by Dragon's side.

"Oh not much but as a child they always fascinated me. I was told that they flew the skies no longer, but I never believed that. In fact, to find a living, breathing Dragon was one of the many reasons I left my homeland." She smiled widely up at Dragon. "It is a great honour to meet you." she said, curtsying gracefully to him.

"Ah, yeah." Dragon replied, looking quite uncomfortable, something that surprised Jane greatly. Usually, Dragon was lapping up this sort of attention but now….

She rubbed her big friend's shoulder comfortingly with her unharmed arm, wondering to herself what had upset the big newt now.

"What ever is wrong now?" Jane whispered to her friend as they walked behind the line of Knights heading back towards camp.

"I don't know."

"You've been saying that a lot of late." Jane said and she heard Dragon sigh.

"I know. But truthfully Jane, I don't know."

"Will you let me know when you do?"

"You'll be the first to know." Dragon sighed glumly and Jane stroked his muzzle.

"Where did you wander off to? And who's that?" Gunther hissed at her as she flopped down beside him, feeling completely exhausted, her arm now aching something terrible.

"While I was out walking I found her. She was being held captive by those… men."

Gunther frowned as he looked over at the lovely Lady, but Jane could see that his cheeks were reddening the longer he looked at her.

Coughing loudly he turned his frown back on to her and Dragon.

"Still, you shouldn't have wandered off like that, without telling anyone where you were going."

"I had Dragon with me, I was perfectly safe." Jane snapped feeling furious that Gunther seemed to think that she couldn't take care of herself.

"You're still hurt and neither of you know this country." Gunther said as he held out some beef jerky for her to eat.

"But if I hadn't gone out, the Lady might never have been found!" Jane snapped angrily as she took a bite of jerky.

Gunther shrugged but Jane saw his eyes continually flick back in the direction of the lady and she couldn't help but roll her eyes. And he wasn't the only one sneaking glances at her either! Boys!

"Jane?" Jane jumped as her name was called across the camp, jarring her injured arm and causing her let out a small yelp of pain.

"Yes Sir Theodore?" She called back, glad that her voice was clear and strong, even though her eyes were watering. She hoped that none of the nearby squires noticed.

She saw him motion for her to come and join him and the other knights who were standing by the lady, who smiled widely when she saw Jane walking towards them.

"Jane." She cried with a wide and beautiful smile and Jane, despite the pain in her arm, found herself smiling just as widely back at her.

"Milady." Jane said, trying to do her best bow, but she stumbled slightly forward due to her arm. "Sirs."

"Such a polite young lady. Rise Jane." The Lady said with a small laugh as she hooked arms with Jane's uninjured one. "And please, call me Regina."

"Of-of course milady. I mean, Lady Regina." Jane stammered causing the Lady to throw back her elegant head and laugh.

"So polite." Regina chuckled as she led Jane towards an unoccupied tent.

"The Knights have been kind enough to vacate this tent for me to use. Would you like to join me, Jane?"

"Ah, um, well, I'm just a squire, milady, it would not be proper of my rank." Jane squeaked nervously, as she glanced back towards where the other squires were sitting around the fire, all trying to appear busy with something but she knew they were really watching her and Lady Regina. As were the Knights.

She felt her cheeks grow warm.

"Jane, you saved me, I think we can dismiss your rank as a squire on this occasion, do you not think? Just this once?" Regina asked, smiling down at her.

"Yes, I do suppose."

"Wonderful. Now you must tell me of your tale as to how you became an apprentice Knight, for I am certain that it is a thrilling tale." Regina said as she ushered Jane into the tent.

Jane cast one last look towards the fire and at Dragon before allowing herself to relax as she began her tale of how she rescued the young prince, who had been stolen away by Dragon.