Chapter XV
For a moment Jane wasn't sure where exactly she should start her search for the little princess. She had clearly not been in the Royal Nursery or with her parents, so where could the little girl be?
Jane chewed on her tongue, thinking hard before an idea slowly formed inside her head. It was a long shot by far, but it was as good as any place to start looking.
On quick and noiseless feet, she darted threw servant corridors and staircases, before sneaking down one of the great corridors for the royal bedchambers of the King and Queen.
"Princess? Princess Lavinia." Jane hissed as she cautiously peered around the open door of the King and Queen's private bedchamber.
"Princess, please, you need to come out now. We must leave the castle immediately." Jane whispered as she peered into the Queen's walk in closet, groaning at the task of looking behind all the long dresses and sweeping cloaks to find one small, and most likely very frighten little princess.
Jane had only just started her search when she heard a small snuffling sound behind her. Spinning quickly on the heel of her boots, Jane stared hard in the direction that the noise had come. No one was there, but Jane swore she saw movement beneath the royal bed.
"Princess?"
Jane walked slowly and cautiously towards the bed, bending at the waist as she did so, trying to peer beneath the bed clothes that fell almost to the stone floor of the chamber.
Slowly, oh so slowly, Jane lifted the sheets.
"Princess?" She was met with a tiny scream of fright.
"Oh Jane." Jane was almost knocked flat at the weight of the little princess throwing herself at her.
"Shush, shush now little princess. You are alright now, I have you. I have you." Jane stroked the long dark locks of the little princess who was burying her sobbing face into Jane's neck.
"Hush now, all will be…" Jane voice trailed off weakly at the sound of heavy footsteps marching their way towards the King and Queen's bedchamber.
"Jane?"
"Shush." Jane forced herself to smile calmly and reassuring down at the little princess, all the while her heart was racing madly within her chest.
Oh, where to hide?!
She looked desperately around the large chamber. The Queen's walk in closet was the obvious choice, but it was too obvious, anyone with half a mind would check there for a hidden person. But so was the bed, which was the closest place for them hide.
But Jane had no choice, she had left it too late to hide herself and the princess properly amongst the fine dresses and beautiful cloaks within the royal closet, so with a groan of defeat she rolled both herself and the Princess back beneath the bed just as the first of the intruders entered the bedchamber.
Lavinia started to let out a small noise of fear but the noise was muffled by Jane gently clapping a hand over the little princess's mouth and begged with her eyes for her to remain silent. The princess, her eyes wide and terrified, nodded and buried her face into Jane's side, Jane's arm wrapped tightly around her.
"Find the girl!"
Jane swallowed thickly as a heavy bass voice thunder out the order and felt the little princess shake even more from where she was buried against her side.
Jane gripped her dragon's blade with shaking fingers as she listened to the thuds of boots against the stone floor, kicking things over, causing several glass objects to fall crashing to the stone.
She stopped breathing when she saw the sole of a pair of boots come to stand right next to the bed and the shadow of a hand moving down to pull the sheet up to look underneath the bed.
Oh, god! Jane thought as she squeezed her eyes shut. Help, somebody! Somebody help. DRAGON!
As if he had heard her plea, Dragon's roar suddenly echoed right through the chamber causing the men to scatter as he sent a small blast of fire into the room.
The dark voice swore angrily, "Someone take care of that fucking dragon!"
"The lady said the dragon was not to be harmed! That we were to find the dragonbound girl and that would bring the beast under control." Another voice growled angrily.
"Find the girl and let's see how the beast feels about attacking us when he sees a knife to her throat." The dark voice snarled as he and the rest of the men left the royal bedchamber.
"Jane?" Jane felt the little princess pull slightly away from her side.
"Hush, little princess, we are not yet safe." Jane whispered as she slowly, cautiously pushed her head from under the bed and tried to hear if there was anyone nearby.
She heard nothing but her own racing heart.
"Come along. We must be leaving now." Jane wiggled out from under the bed and helped the little princess to do the same.
"I'm scared, Jane." The little princess whispered as she clutched tightly Jane's hand.
"I know, little majesty, but we must be brave. Have you Princess Dalia?" Jane asked and smiled when the little princess showed her the precious little stuff bunny that was the princess's constant companion.
"That is very good," Jane said, "now we must make haste? Do you understand me? We are going to play a game of hide and seek. We must be very quiet and keep very well hidden so that we cannot be found, do you understand, little princess."
"I don't want to." Lavinia whispered her darks eyes seeming to become even darker with her ever growing fear.
Jane forced herself to smile playfully down at the princess.
"But it will fun, your little majesty."
"No, no it won't."
"Yes, it will. Lots and lots of fun because if we win, we can ride Dragon as a reward." Jane smiled as she watched Lavinia's fear slip a little from her eyes at the idea of flying through the sky on Dragon's back.
"But Mummy and Daddy…"
"I'm sure they'll be quite alright with you riding Dragon, just this once." Jane reassured, "Now, do you wish to play?"
The little princess hesitated for a moment longer before nodding her head slowly.
"Yes."
"Alright. Now we must be very quiet and very good at staying hidden or we'll be found and we won't be able to have a ride on Dragon."
"And that would be bad."
"Yes, very, very bad indeed." Jane agreed, forcing herself not to think of just how bad being caught would be for them both.
"Now, as part of the game, you must always stay behind me and never let go of my hand, do you understand, little majesty?"
"Yes Jane."
"Very good." Jane swallowed before smiling again. It hurt, to keep smiling as she was, but to do anything less would only add to the princess's fear, "so, are you ready to play?"
The little princess only nodded and squeezed Jane's hand all the tighter.
"Good," Jane mumbled, "very good."
They moved surprisingly quickly, much to Jane's astonishment, but then they were backtracking the way she had come, back down the servant's corridors which were still less occupied by intruding soldiers than the main corridors which appeared to be simply flooded with the men.
It was only when they left the interior of castle, and were out on the battlements did they start to meet real trouble.
Jane looked around her wildly, trying to find an escape route through the sea of men fighting. Her hope to sneak through the Royal Gardens and out the Gardener's Gate like she had told her friends and parents to do was now gone, as the Royal Gardens were now ablaze and enemy soldiers were blocking it, flaming touches within their grasp.
"Jane." The princess whispered, fear once more creeping into her voice.
"Shush, it's alright, I'm simply thinking." Jane looked up at the smoky sky for Dragon and again, almost as if he had heard her thoughts he was flying towards her.
"Jane." He roared in warning and she instinctively ducked just as sword went flying over her head.
She swung her blade just as Dragon let out a fiery breath and her attacker ran from her screaming.
"He-he was one of ours." Jane whispered weakly as she watched the fallen knight run across the courtyard, waving his arms and screaming as the fire bit into his flesh through his melting chainmail.
Why had he attacked them? How could he mistake them for enemy knights? Jane barely came up to their shoulders and Lavinia? Lavinia was a child! How could he possibly mistake a child for one of those villains?!
"Jane." Dragon roared again pulling her away from her ever increasing dark thoughts.
"Dragon, I need you to take Lavinia. Take her somewhere safe and far away from here. If you see my parents, they have the prince. No!" She yelled when he started to protest, "You must go to my parents and the others and protect them with your life."
"Jane!"
"Please Dragon." Jane pleaded, "Now come down here so that I can put her on you."
Dragon made to land on the battlements above the courtyard, but it was difficult, arrows were still being shot around them and while they didn't harm Dragon with his tough hide, they could easily kill a little princess when she tried to ride him to safety.
"JANE!"
Another warning from Dragon, and once more she swung her sword, ducking fired arrows as she did so but it was little use. Her attacker, even with Dragon's warning and her own instincts had caught her by surprise and quickly and easily disarmed her, sending her blade down, down into the courtyard below.
"I told you I'd teach you to respect your betters, Janey." Jane took a step back her mouth hanging open in disbelief.
"Radon!" She gaped. What, no, this wasn't possible! For all his nastiness, Radon wouldn't turn to the Shadow Knights side… would he?
"Where's your castle idiot, Janey?" Radon sneered as he point his sword at her throat, causing Lavinia to gasp and Dragon to growl out in fury.
The infuriating, troublesome little squire was too close to Jane for him to flame ball him without causing her harm. Something the nasty boy seemed to have realised because he started laughing.
"You thought you were so mighty and grand with your big lizard, didn't you Janey? Thought that you were better than all of us."
"I don't. Radon please, I have to get the Princess to safety." Jane cried desperately, "For the love of your kingdom, stop…"
She ducked, pulling Lavinia with her, as Radon swung his sword, the blade slicing into her wounded arm causing her to hiss in pain. Above her Dragon let out another snarl of fury while Lavinia started to cry in earnest at her side.
"The Lady says we've not to harm you." He growl, his hatred towards Jane evident, "I don't know why. Why are you so important? You're just a girl! A girl with an oversize flying newt! But you know what they say about battles," he ran the tip of his sword against her throat, causing a small gash to appear and for warm blood to trickle down her neck, "accidents do hap…"
Jane didn't hear the arrow being shot, not over the noise of the battle raging around her, nor did she see it until it was buried deeply into Radon neck.
She stared in horror, while making sure that Lavinia's face was pressed firmly to her side, as the horrid boy dropped to his knees, his sword clanging noisily to the stone beside him as he let it fall from his hand, his fingers clawing desperately at the arrow shaft buried deep into his neck as he gagged on his life blood.
Jane forced herself to look away from the horrible sight to peer cautiously over the battlements to see who was her saviour. And if her over-tired, frazzled brain had been functioning normally, a move she would never have had made. After all, for all she knew it could have been accident, not anyone trying to keep her and the princess safe at all, but simply dumb luck. Or they had been trying to end either hers or Lavinia's lives. Either way, looking over the battlements to see where the arrow had been shot from was not one of her finest moments of brilliancy of a life-time spend trying to prove she was smarter than the average boy or girl her age.
Of course, if her usually clever mind had been working and she had not looked over the battlement at that particular moment, she would probably not have seen the last person she would ever expect to see in the middle of a battle, armed with a weapon.
"JESTER!"
She couldn't help but scream out his name, her eyes wide with disbelief.
What in blazers was he doing here! He was meant to be out of the castle, safe, and with the others. So what was he doing back in the middle of the mouth of hell!
And, she thought dully as an afterthought, when the hell had he learnt how to use a bow and arrow?
For that was what he was lowering when she spied him in the courtyard below, a bow in hand, a quiver full of arrows strapped to his back, doing his best to remain out of the main conflict that was happening around him.
She almost didn't recognise him what with his Jester costume now completely ruined with dirt and soot discolouring the once brilliant hues of blue and his jester hat not perched proudly upon his straw coloured head.
For a breath of moment, she refused to believe it was him. It was too utterly impossible to believe that Jester, a boy who hated fighting and weapons of any kind, who used his wits and silver tongue to get him out of trouble, could possibly be standing in the middle of a battle with bow having just killed a boy who had been threatening her life. It was too impossible, simply… impossible. She couldn't believe and yet she did, she knew in her heart that it was him, even as unrecognizable as he currently was, it was him. She didn't need his silly jester hat to recognise him anywhere.
From beneath his layer of dirt and soot, Jester smiled up at her. It wasn't a happy smile and it was smile she had never seen him wear before and one she hoped to never see him wear again. It was a tired, grim smile that held only a hint of relief as he held up her sword for her. He must have grabbed it before he shot down Radon.
"Jester, I have the princess." She called down to him, "We need to get her out."
"The knights are making to leave any moment with the King." Jester called back to her, gesturing wildly to where she saw several knights on horses near the stables and trying desperately to fight their way out of the castle.
"We'll meet you there." She promised before she turned her head upwards to yell to Dragon. "Dragon! Change of plans, I want you to..."
"Fly around and protect the knights, right?" he asked from above.
"Yes." She replied feeling still desperate but also a small ray of hope.
They could still do this; they could still get out and be safe.
"Jester, go." She yelled to her friend who was in danger with every moment he lingered in the courtyard of losing his life. She didn't have time to check that he was running for safety, she just grabbed Lavinia's hand and started dragging her towards the stairs leading down into the courtyard, Dragon roaring from above them.
We can do this, we can get out. Jane chanted the mantra over and over again in her head. Over and over again the words circled within her head.
Until they were no longer true. In horror, she watched what was left of her safe little world was ripped out from beneath her racing feet and everything she had known and held dear was destroyed or lost.
"DRAGON!"
Her world grew dark and would remain so for a very long time.