Chapter XIII

Jane lay in her bed, staring up at her stone ceiling, unsure of why it was that she could not fall asleep. She was tired and yet sleep evaded her. She tossed and turned in her bed, throwing her blankets off before just as quickly pulling them back up, shivering as she did so against the cool night air. Her eyelids were heavy but her mind struggled to remain awake, though for the life of her, she could not fathom why.

Outside her window, she could hear Dragon snoring loudly from where he slept on the battlements by her chamber. The noise, unlike most nights when she wanted to throw something heavy at him to shut him up, was oddly comforting to her.

If his sleep was as fretful as her own, she might have found herself to be more worried, but his sleep looked so deep and peaceful, she forced herself to settle down once more beneath her blankets and tried even harder to fall into the land of dreams and to allow for the heaviness of sleep to overcome her.

oOo

Jester lay awake upon his pallet, staring up at his ceiling. He couldn't sleep.

He hadn't been sleeping well ever since his conversation with Regina three days past. Their conversation was almost constantly playing over and over again in his mind, never giving him a moments rest.

What had she meant? What was she planning on doing? What did she want?

He pressed his hands to his face, groaning, his head aching from all the hard thinking he had been doing over the past few days.

He knew that he was worrying his friends, in particular Jane who, as promised to her mother, he had taken to visiting again.

He did try to put some kind of distance between them but his resolve was quickly shattered and by the end of his first visit, they were sitting side by side on her bed with him telling her an epic tale full of adventure, princes to be rescued and a magic sword. He had thrown in a dragon so as to keep the overgrown newt, who had been listening in from her window, happy.

He tried his hardest to keep his nervousness a secret from the others, not wanting them to worry. He also knew that if he spoke of his suspicious to any of them they would not believe him and there was a chance someone might over hear him and go to the King, or worse, to one of the knights who followed Regina with adoring loyalty. The King might scold him for speaking ill of his guest, but Regina's loyal knight would do far worse without much provocation.

No, what he needed first was solid proof.

Only, he had yet to find any.

Try as he might, he had no more proof against what he feared Regina to be than he had a week ago. Well, besides the lady herself, but no one would believe the word of a lowly fool over that of Lady as well loved and adored as Regina was.

He groaned again, closing his eyes before swing himself off his pallet. He needed some air to clear his aching head.

He walked out into the gardens, breathing in the night's fresh air. The night was so quiet and restful; he was almost able to forget his worries… almost.

He stretched his arms above his head, enjoying the soft wind that rustled the bells hangs from his jester hat.

Though, he thought as he lowered his arms to his side again, it seems almost a bit too quiet.

He glanced towards the battlements, expecting to see watchmen and their lanterns walking up and down the walls, stopping only occasionally to give status reports to each other or their captains. And yet, he saw no one. The battlements were dark and Jester could see no movement or shadows upon them.

Frowning, he walked up the steps to one of sentry posts at the top of the battlements.

Maybe the watchmen were changing over, he thought cautiously. But usually there was more noise than this, tired greetings and reports exchange, the like, but nothing, nothing but silence greeted him as he reached the sentry post.

He didn't see the first watchman, not until he tripped over the sleeping guard form, smashing his nose painfully into the knee of his equally sleeping companion.

"Lazybones." He grumbled, rubbing his nose as he crawled to his feet, his ankle protesting loudly to the knock it took against the armour of the first sentry.

"Light armour, dragon's behind!" He grumbled darkly under his breath as he bent down and grasped the shoulder of the watchman who had tripped him up.

"Wake up! You're on duty. You had better wake before I tell the King and Sir Theodore." No response.

Frowning even more deeply, he shook the watchman's shoulder even harder before moving onto his companion and giving him similarly hard shake. Still, neither woke from their deep slumber.

Suddenly frightened, Jester pressed his fingers to the watchmen's necks, feeling for a pulse just as his mother had taught him so many years ago. Both soldiers had one, but it seemed to Jester to be very weak.

Jester took a hurried step backwards.

What was going on? He wondered as he hurried away from the two slumbering soldiers, and making for another sentry post in the hopes of finding someone awake and who might know what to do.

He checked another two sentry posts, but was quick to discover that they too were in a similar state, their guards lost in a heavy slumber that Jester was unable to wake them from.

"It's almost as if they were enchanted." Jester whispered to himself, fear curling deeply within his gut. He had to find someone, someone who like him, was still awake and who hopefully would have an infinitely better grasp on the situation than Jester had.

Sir Theodore? He would be Jester's best bet.

He was just making for the Knights chambers when he heard movement, and possibly the neighing of horse, from outside the castle walls.

Crouching down low he peered over the battlements and immediately, the sight outside the castle walls made his stomach drop.

It was an army.

A massive army, the likes of which Jester had never before seen in all his life, were station just beyond the drawbridge. Their armour and swords flickered ominous by the light of torches hanging from the outer castle walls.

Why were none of the knights camping outside the Castle raising the alarm? Why weren't they doing anything?

Jester looked back towards the great hall and saw a figure walking purposefully down the steps towards the gatehouse.

Regina, Jester realised feeling the sickness in his gut only grow. He couldn't see her face for it was a moonless night but in his heart he knew that it was her.

What was she doing?

And once again, in his heart, he knew.

He heard, rather than saw the heavy main gates and the portcullis being opened, the great metal hinges groaning under weight of the wood and metal of the gates, the gears and chains of the portcullis creaking and rattling in the night.

Jester knew that all the castles gates were locked, without fail, at nightfall of each day and opened at first light the following morning and that it took at least four men to open the main gates, but in the air he could taste magic as the great gate finally shuddered and groaned fully open. It was the noise that he woke to every morning and yet no one from the castle ran to investigate.

It had taken a moment for him to comprehend exactly how it was that he knew Regina had open the great gate with magic, fighting back a yelp of surprise when he finally understood what the funny taste tingling upon his tongue was the work of magic in the air.

He knew of magic, had been trying to teach himself the ways of its lore, but never before had he felt, smelt or tasted such magic quite like what was clouding the air around the castle, growing thicker and heavier with each passing moment.

The heaviness of the magic only seemed to grow as it tried to overwhelm him, as if it could sense that he was awake when he should have been sleeping like all the rest of the castle inhabitants.

His own magic, a mere bug compared to the power surrounding him, was struggling now to keep him awake, and it was only his own terror that was keeping him from laying his head upon the battlements stone and allowing the dark cloud to sweep him away into an unnatural slumber.

How had he not noticed this power earlier?

How had the wizard not?

But this wasn't true either, not now that he thought about it. He had noticed this magic before, but it had been so subtle that even while it bothered him, like a fly buzzing around his head on a hot summer's day, he has only paid it as much heed as he would that fly, swatting at it but never going any further to be rid of it.

Or ran away from it…

How often had he run from Regina instead of confronting her? How often had he thought to go to the wizard with his suspicions but instead only talk himself out of the decision, saying it was a bad idea and he needed more evidence?

He had known the truth about Regina for days now and he had done nothing with the information! Nothing!

This was his fault! Everything that happen on this night; would be on his head, any blood spilt would be on his hands.

He could hear Regina call a quiet greet and the sound of many heavy footsteps coming through the gate.

"Welcome General." He heard Regina call with her melodious voice.

"My Queen." The reply was rough and thick, sending chills up and down Jester's spin. But the actual sight of the owner of the voice had him cringing back in fear. The man at the front of the army was huge, dressed in black armour and carrying a huge battle axe in both hands.

It was then that Jester decided that he had seen enough and was running as silently as he could to the bell tower to sound the alarm.

All the bell tower's inhabitants were of course asleep, but Jester paid them no heed as he picked up the heavy mallet and hit the huge, metal bell as hard as he possibly could. His arms jarred as the mallet hit the surface of the bell but the pain meant little as the bell sang out true into the silent night.

"Boy," he heard a drowsy voice speak from behind him groan, "what are you doing?"

"The Castle is under attack."

"What?" the bell keeper stared up at him from where he was slumped against the tower wall in disbelief.

"Please believe me. The Castle is under attack. A spell was cast so all would sleep when the attack took place. We must wake everyone up!"

"Right, of course, move out of the way boy." The bell keeper ordered as he struggled to his feet and pushed past Jester so that he could man the bell, hitting it with a rhythmic beat that Jester had lacked.

"Go on Boy, wake whoever you can." The Bell Keeper barked.

Jester nodded frantically. He could already hear the sounds of marching feet and the clinking of armour. He glanced back at the Bell Keeper, whose face was pale but determined.

"Off with you Boy."

Jester ran along the battlements once more, coming to a skidding halt when enemy soldiers appeared in front of him, blocking his path. Jester took a step back as they drew their swords, but didn't think twice as he jumped from the battlements into one of the Royal Garden's large trees. And from that tree he jumped onto another walkway and sprinted though the door at the end of it.

"Jester?"

"Jane," He gasped not bothering with any kind of greeting or even an explanation, "Get up! Wake Dragon! We have to wake everyone in the Castle!"

"What?" he could hear the sleepiness in her voice but she was waking faster than the Bell Master had, "The bell…" she mumbled as she swung herself swiftly out of her bed. She was dressed in a simple tunic and a pair of loose trousers.

Almost as if she expected something to happen tonight, Jester thought grimly.

"Watch your arm." He reminded her as she stuck her head out of her window to get Dragon to wake.

"Wake up! Oh Dragon wake up! Wake…" He heard her voice break into a gasp and ran to her side and looked out her window.

"They're…" she whispered to him, her bright green eyes wide with fear.

"Attacking the Castle. Regina let them in."

"R-Regina? What? Why? Jester, those knights, some of them at least, they're the Shadow Knights!" He could hear fear in her voice.

"Look," He caught hold of her shoulders and forced her to look at him, to try and calm her frantic breathing, "I can't explain everything now; we need to wake everyone in the castle up. They've all been put under some kind of enchanted sleep."

"Right," she took a deep shuddering breath before turning back to Dragon and gave him a sharp smack arose his snout causing him to grunt, his many eye lids fluttering heavily open.

"Wah? What's going on?" the sleepy dragon moaned.

"We're under attack! Shadow Knights. Get UP!" Jane snapped sharply at her large scaly friend.

"Wha?"

"Yes, so do make yourself useful and start roaring." Jane ordered her startled newt firmly.

Dragon nodded and took flight, his voice roaring through the night.

"Dragons surprisingly useful in times of great distress." Jester commented wryly as he watched her unsheathe her dragon's blade.

He saw her wince as she gave the sword a few experimental twirls with her hurt arm but the look she shot him kept him from saying anything about it as they snuck out of her room after she had stomped on her boots.

"We should split up." Jane muttered as they came to a crouched stop, their way blocked by more enemy soldiers, though their attention was hardly on who might be behind them but rather on the roaring Dragon above them.

Already Jester could hear cries of surprise and fear ringing throughout the Castle at the sounds of Dragon's roaring, the alarm bell being sounded – though Jester had now noticed that the noise of the bell had stopped and rather abruptly too – and probably from looking out their windows to find that the ground below them was covered with marching soldiers and Knights.

"What?" Jester hissed, not at all impressed with this proposal.

"Jester, we must." She hissed back at him. "You go and warn the others and anyone else you come across. Get them out of the Castle via the Servant's Gate."

"Jane…"

"Jester, I'll be fine. It's my duty to protect the royal family, so once I've found them, I'll be down by the Servant's Gate with them before you know it."

"Jane, I don't…"

"Trust me." She begged.

"I do," he insisted, "I do Jane, I just…" he was cut short by her kissing him. It was different from their first kiss which had been tentative and maybe a little awkward while this one was desperate and passionate.

She cupped his face and kissed him for all her worth before pulling away.

"Go, Jester. Do what I say. Get yourself and the others out. Find somewhere safe to hide until this is all over."

"And what about you?" he demanded softly, though his head was still a little foggy from their kiss.

"I'll be doing what I can to help protect the Castle, though knowing Sir Theodore, he'll charge me with protecting their little majesties and I'll be searching for you almost as soon as you find a safe spot to hide. Please, Jester, don't worry. I'll see you soon." She smiled and made to move only he caught her hand and kissed her again.

"I'm holding you to that." He whispered and she grinned at him before placing one last kiss on his lips. But before he could respond to the kiss, she was gone, disappearing through a side door while the enemy soldiers were still distracted by the aggravated dragon flying overhead.

Jester heart pounded madly in his ears as he stole back the way they had come, moving for the kitchens where he suspected his friends to all be hiding.

If he could only get to them, for now there was a terrifying battle being fought for the castle, baring his way to the kitchens. Swallowing thickly, he started out into the fight.

He did his best to keep as close to the walls and shadows, only venturing amongst the soldiers when he absolutely had no choice. Those moments were some of the scariest he had ever experienced in his life, but he was faster than the men in armour and was able to duck and weave himself out of the way of swords searching for his life blood. There had certainly been some close calls where if he had ducked a moment too late, he would have found his head cleaved cleanly from his shoulders. The side of his head hurt terribly from where it had been hit by something sharp, but he didn't stop, not with the kitchen so close. With his last bit of courage and energy he dived threw one of the kitchen ground level windows, barely catching himself as he fell into the warm darkness of the kitchen. He was still catching his breath as he scrambled to his feet, only barely able to believe he had survived to get to the kitchen when he was almost knocked out cold by a copper pot being swung at his head.

"PEPPER, it's me!" He yelped as he dropped once more to the kitchen stone floor, the copper pot clanging loudly against the stone wall where his head had just been.

"JESTER?!" Pepper squealed in horror, almost dropping her pot onto his head. He managed to catch it before it does just that, pressing the dented pot more securely into her hands before crawling to his feet. As he did so, he could make out from behind Pepper, Rake lowering another pot and Smithy standing by the barricaded kitchen door, his hammer still raised as his eyes darted nervously from the barricaded door to Jester.

"What is going on out there?" Rake whispered looking truly petrified, his long, nimble fingers barely holding up the copper pot he was holding from how hard they were shaking.

"Madness." Jester replied and they all shuddered as they heard a blood curdling scream echo off the castle's stone walls. "Complete madness. We're under attack and we need to get out."

"Out where?" Smithy asked as he moved over to where a very scared Pig stood by the kitchen fireplace, snorting in distress at all the horrid noise occurring outside the warm kitchen walls. Smithy seemed to be dealing with what was happening around them the best of the three and for that Jester was grateful for.

He needed Smithy to be calm or he would lose it. He didn't have time to be scared because he had a job to do, but if Smithy was as frantic as the other two were, Jester was certain that he wouldn't be able to hold himself together before his job was completed.

"Anywhere. Out of the Castle. We just have to get out. And if we can, take as many people with us."

"The Servant's gate?" Smithy suggested as he scratched the nervous Pig behind her ears.

Jester nodded.

"That won't be easy." Smithy added as he ran a hand through his dirty blonde hair, "getting from here to there. There's a whole battle being fought between us and that gate."

"I know. But it's our best shot of getting out." Jester said and Smithy nodded solemnly.

"Don't suppose we could simply yield?" Rake asked desperately.

"I don't think…" Smithy started and glanced at Jester who was shaking his head slowly.

"No, Rake, our best bet is to just get out of here. Yielding won't help us."

"We could fight." Pepper squeaked. The three boys looked down at her in amusement. Well, two were amused the third was horrified by her suggestion.

"What? With your pots?" Jester teased her gently.

"We could help. I don't want to leave. This is my home…"

"Pepper we're not leaving forever," Jester quickly cut in. They were wasting time with all this talk, "just for the battle. We're not soldiers or Knights, we have not been trained for this, and we'd just get in everyone's way and probably be killed by accident because of it." Or on purpose, Jester added to himself.

"We need to leave now," Smithy said from where he was crouched by the kitchen doorway, where he had removed some of the barricaded that the three had set in place to try and keep the worst of the battle out, peering out of it. "The battle is less involved in this area, so we should go while we still can." Jester nodded before looking back at the other two.

"You both ready?"

"No." Rake said, shaking his head but stepping up to stand by Jester side along with Pepper nonetheless.

"We stay low," Jester whispered as they all step into the doorway of the kitchen, all of them trying to be as quiet as a mouse so as to not to attract the attention of the few soldiers to fighting in the area before them, "We stay low and we stay together. Right?"

"Right."

If Jester thought it had been difficult sneaking into the kitchen by himself, it was almost impossible sneaking back out with three others plus a rather large pig, even with most of the fighting taking place in the central courtyard.

"Jester," Smithy whispered, as they hid behind a rose bush, "we can't get out by the Servants Gate. There are too many of them between it and us."

Jester ran a hand through his messy dirty blonde hair – his jingled hat had been shoved down the front of his tunic to avoid it from jingling and attracting unwanted attention.

"We-we could always escape out of the Gardeners gate." Rake whispered, his voice trembling as he spoke.

"We'd have to be quick and make a run for it through the royal gardens." Jester muttered trying to think. How was he to get a message to Jane that they couldn't get out the Servants Gate?

"We have to try." Pepper whispered.

"Yes, we will." Jester nodded just as Pepper let out a squeal of fright as she was dragged bodily out of the bush they had all be hiding in.

"Well, look what I've found here." The knight that held her jeered, "A pretty little girl. You're a right pretty thing aren't yo…" words ended in a howl of pain as Smithy's hammer and two pots met their marks and sent him crashing to the ground. Pepper, able to catch herself as the knight fell, jumped away from him and behind Jester and Smithy and straight into Rake's arms, her breath coming out frantic gasps.

"That-that wasn't wise boys." The knight panted up at Jester and Smithy who were both standing over him, Smithy with his hammer and Jester with a heavy copper pot in hand.

"Not wise? Not wise?" Jester growled out furiously, "We're not the ones attacking a Castle that is armed with some of the best Knights in the Realm. Not to mention a Dragon and a wizard!"

"Ah, and yet you're all still losing, aren't ya lad?" the man chuckled as he struggled to rise only to be shoved back down to the ground by Smithy's great hammer. "You know that you are, don't you boy. You're a smart laddie, you can see that the castle is lost and," he smiled widely up at all them, showing them just how many of his teeth he had lost, "every single one of you will die with it."

Without a single thought, Jester swung his great copper pot and brought it down hard upon the evil bastard's head.

"Jester!" He heard Pepper and Rake gasp out in shock, recoiling backwards.

"He's not dead," Jester answered softly, his arms shaking as they fell back by his sides, "just out cold." He added, little more than a whisper, unable to quite tear his eyes away from the downed knight, from the sight of blood trickling from the knight's ear, illuminated by the fires burning around them. "just out cold."

"We need to move, more soldiers will be coming." Smithy was saying, catching Jester's arm and pulling him back into the moment. Jester forced himself to take several deep breaths, to tear his eyes away from the downed knight to nod his head in reassurance to Smithy questioning look.

The four of them plus Pig snuck up through the Royal Gardens, taking care to be as quiet as possible and sticking to the flowerbeds, in the shadows.

"Here," Rake whispered as they came to a simple wooden gate, barely visible behind vines and trees.

"Right, you lot go through and…"

"Wait? You're not coming?" His three friends looked at him in distress.

"I have to find Jane. Tell her that for the moment, the Servant's Gate is blocked."

"Jester you can't!" Pepper and Rake both exclaimed, "You'll be caught, you'll be…"

"Shush, all of you." Smithy ordered as he pulled Jester into the shadows that they were hiding in, "can't you hear running footsteps?"

They all feel silent and sure enough they all heard the sound of running feet, but not those clad in heavy armour but the rather in leather, running as fast as possible away from the Castle Hall.

"Jester, wait! Wait!" His friends whispered as he snuck out of their hiding place to take a look at the runners.

Overhead, Dragon still flew, flaming and roaring against the dark sky, casting an eerie glow around the waring Castle walls. Jester peered out at the running figures – all of whom were slowing down and looking around them frantically – and saw immediately that they were not soldiers but rather courtiers and servants alike.

"Quick," Jester hissed at them, "over here!"

He fought back a groan of irritation as one foolish girl let out a shriek at his voice but the other nobles and servants stayed thankfully quiet as they quickly made their way over to where he was.

"Jester?"

"Lord Milton." Jester greeted the lord with a sense of relief only for it to quickly disappear when he saw who was missing from the small group.

"Jane?" He asked trying to keep his voice low and calm.

"Searching for the Princess." Lord Milton replied as he ran a weary hand over his face.

"She was so afraid," Lady Adeline whispered her voice dull and void of emotion, "I tried to keep her with me, but…" she trailed off.

"Where are my parents?" Jester jumped at the sound of the young prince's voice breaking the nervous silence.

"They, along with your sister, will be along shortly, little highness." He replied forcing himself to smile at the young, scared little princeling.

Cuthbert bite down hard upon his lower lip as he was ushered by Lady Adeline towards the Gardener's Gate.

"You should try and avoid going near the town until morning. Try and find a secluded area to hide in until one of our Knights comes and finds you." Jester said once he had everyone out of the Gardener's Gate.

"Jester." Smithy said, placing a hand upon Jester shoulder.

"I have to go and find her. I have to…" Jester said feeling rather weak and helpless.

"I know," Smithy said with a small sigh before smiling, "keep yourself safe and we'll see you and Jane soon."

"Right." Jester said grinning as he shook hands with the taller boy. "Keep your hammer handy."

"Will do." Smithy replied, "Good luck."

"Thanks," Jester replied as he turn back towards the Castle, seeing that now much of it was on fire and the screams were growing all the more worse from within the stone walls.

"I'm going to need it." he added to himself as he watched both dragon fire and a large flash on blue light hit somewhere near the centre of the Castle.

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Jester ran back towards the Castle in search of Jane, the little Princess and for any other survive who may need his aid.