Chapter XVII

Jester very much hoped that when he woke up, he'd wake up dead. That or find himself waking up in his bed discovering everything was nothing more than a very, very bad nightmare.

Waking up to anything else would just be cruel but who had ever said that life was kind?

"Jester?"

His heart sped up for a moment, hoping for a split-second that the voice belonged to her but his hope was quickly dashed at the sight of the dirty, tear-stained face of Pepper leaning over him.

He tried to sit up only to quickly find that he could not and that his shoulder felt oddly heavy and numb.

"You were shot." Pepper whispered, before quickly adding when she saw his horror, "by a normal arrow, the physician assured us of that, so you won't… you won't…" she swallowed thickly and a few more tears escaped down her cheeks.

"So he got out did he?" Jester asked, maybe a tad bitter though he wasn't entirely sure why. Maybe it was simply due to him having escaped while she had not.

"Yes, Sir Tristram made sure that he got out, to take care of the King."

"What about the Wizard?" Jester asked suddenly remembering the old man.

Where the hell had his magic been last night…was it last night? How long had he actually been unconscious for, he wondered? If the wizard had gotten out and was with them, Jester was going to strangle him!

"Apparently his tower was the first place those knights attacked." Pepper whispered as she held a waterbag to his lips, supporting his head as he took a deep and grateful drink of cool, refreshing water.

"So… he's dead?" Jester asked once he had finished with the water and immediately felt guilty for thinking poorly of the old man and maybe even a little grief-stricken at the thought of him being dead.

"That's the common belief." Pepper sniffed as she rubbed her running nose against the back of her hand.

"And what about…"

"No one has left the Castle after you got out. None of us, I mean. Plenty of… enemy soldiers and knights, but none… no one that we…" she looked away from him as fresh tears started rolling down her cheeks, "you can hear him roaring at night."

"Dragon?"

She nodded, letting out a little sob.

"Oh, it's terrible Jester. The noise he's been making a night. It's not a roar but I don't know what else to call it, but it's terrible. It's so sad and heart-breaking." She wept.

"Pepper."

"What did they want? What do they want?" She sobbed angrily. "Why couldn't they have just left us alone!" she buried her face into her hands.

"Pepper." He reached out carefully, still unable to move properly without his shoulder sending sharp pain through his whole body and gently grasped one of the hands she had pressed to her face. "Pepper."

"I'm sorry, Jester. It's just…" She forced herself to take a deep breath as she pulled her hands away from her red eyes, "you've been unconscious for two days and we weren't sure if you were going to live or die and so many of us are dead and… I don't want to lose anyone else!"

"Did…" Jester's heart stopped at thought of the others not making it. He could barely handle the idea of Jane being… the others, they had to be alive here, somewhere in these woods that they were hiding in.

"No, the others are fine, Jester, I just meant…" He knew what she meant and closed his own eyes. She wasn't. She wasn't dead. She was Jane, and Jane was only beginning her life of adventures, so there was no possible way that her life was now over.

"I'm sorry Jester." Pepper whispered.

He didn't open his eyes, his shoulder now throbbing at an unbearable rate and he was finding it hard enough not to scream without thinking about her being gone from the world.

oOo

Jester woke again close to night fall by the sounds of roaring.

Jerking awake, letting out small cry of pain caused by the movement of his injured shoulder, Jester's head snapped in the direction of the bellowing, in the direction of the castle where smoke still drifted around its towers.

"Dragon." He whispered as he moved slowly and carefully from the bedroll he had been sleeping on and on to his unsteady feet. He swayed there dangerously for a few moments, black spots appearing in front of his eyes.

"Jester!" he felt several pairs of arms wrap themselves around his body just as he started to fall.

"Jester, you should be resting." He heard Pepper's chide him somewhere nearby. "You've still got a fever and we've only just been able to keep your wound from becoming sceptic!" Pepper exclaimed. She sounded so very tired and numb.

"Dragon." Was all he could mumble in reply.

"We know." Was all Jester heard Smithy say as he was being pushed back down onto the bedroll to rest.

He felt terrible. His whole body was on fire and yet somehow he felt impossibly cold. His body was shaking from exhaustion and his head was spinning uncontrollably.

"Please, take it easy Jester." Pepper whispered as she placed a cool cloth upon his sweating brow.

"Why- why do I feel so much worse than I did before?" he asked through dry and cracked lips.

"The infection had not yet set in." Pepper explained softly.

"I thought you said the arrows weren't…"

"They weren't," Pepper reassured him quickly, "but that doesn't mean your wound can't still get infected."

"Wonderful." Jester muttered, before peered at his injured left shoulder. It was bandaged in white cloth but Jester could still see that blood had seeped through. He felt his stomach turn at the sight.

"You were very lucky;" Smithy was saying softly, "A few more inches and it would have gone straight through your heart."

"Smithy!" He heard Pepper hiss and a soft yelp of pain leading Jester to believe that Smithy had just been hit by Pepper with some kind of weapon. Or rather her version of a weapon.

"The oh wicked spoon of Lady Pepper strikes again?" Jester enquired as he peered up at his friends, both of whom were looking back at him sheepishly. They all cringed when Dragon gave another howling roar from wherever he was trapped.

Pepper offered him a waterbag to sip from, even though he had no energy to drink.

"Jester you must drink. And when I've finished with this soup, you will have some of it so that you can regain your strength as soon as possible."

"Why?" he grumbled.

"Because you have to." Pepper snapped, "You are going to eat and drink even if I have to spoon feed you every mouthful."

"Fine," Jester muttered. He was feeling too sickly to argue with Pepper and listening to Dragon's mournful roars were heart-breaking.

"Does he do this every evening?" Jester asked as he looked over at the campfire that his bedroll was close to and where Pepper was cooking their dinner.

"Every evening, always around this time." Smithy replied, digging a stick into the burning embers of the fire.

"Does he say anything?"

"Haven't heard any words." Smithy said, shaking his head, "just roars, like you've heard."

"Why haven't we done anything yet?" Jester whispered.

"Can't. Won't. Don't have the numbers. We've heard many arguments as to why we can't take back the castle yet."

"The King?"

"Still unconscious. Sir Theodore is awake, apparently, but we haven't seen him."

"So what is the plan?" Jester asked but before Smithy could make a reply, Pepper cut him off.

"He needs rest." She said to him before turning to Jester, "you need your rest; you need to recover so that we can…"

"So we can what?" Jester asked sharply.

His two friends looked at each other guiltily.

"We're leaving, I don't know where. But as soon as everyone has gained enough strength, we're going to pack up and leave."

"What?" Jester cried before groaning as he grasped his shoulder in pain.

"We don't have the numbers, Jester, to take back the Castle. Nor the weapons. And the King really is in bad shape. The court physician is doing all he can for him but he needs serious help and at the moment we're hiding in woods that don't offer all that much protection against a huge army. We have to leave and find someone loyal to the King to shelter us." Smithy explained in his calm, soft voice and Jester hated him for that. For being logical and for making sense during a truly horrific and terrible time.

"What about the queen and the princess?" Jester whispered.

"Sir Tristram is hoping that they will be treated as royal hostages." Seeing Jester's horrified and disgusted expression at this Smithy quickly continued, "I think he's hoping that if they are being held as hostages, they can be…"

"Rescued?" Jester suggested grimly.

"Or brought? Sir Tristram is waiting for a ransom to be made for the Queen and Princess."

"Oh they'll love that." Jester growled.

"At least that means that they're alive!" Smithy snapped back before sighing. "I know, it's not a great plan but Sir Tristram says that royal hostage are usually treated better than…"

"Us lowly common folk?" Jester offered and Smithy's lips switched into the tiniest of smiles.

"Something like that."

Jester rubbed his hand over his eyes, feeling tears start to swell there.

"If we had just waited…" He trailed off.

"Don't Jester." Smithy said softly, "don't start thinking of the 'what if's', it'll destroy you."

"So what am I supposed to do, to think of?" Jester snapped at his friend. The young blacksmith looked him straight in the eyes and said, "You're alive, think on that. Now get your food and try to get some more rest. I'm sure Sir Tristram wants to leave here as soon as possible."

In silence Jester ate the bland stew that Pepper handed him in a wooden bowl, saying very little as he ate, only speaking a few words of greetings when a reserved and defeated looking Gunther and deeply sadden Rake came and joined their small fire side.

They had returned from their respective jobs of searching for food within the wooded area, Rake being the searcher while Gunther acted as one of the groups' guards, ready to call out a warning and fight if enemy soldiers appeared. Both looked emotionally drained, though they did brighten when they saw that Jester was wake and eating. It was hard to remain glum when he saw just how tired and miserable the rest of his friends were.

It was his job to take care of them and keep them happy so pushing aside his own misery and pain, Jester forced himself to entertain and cheer up his friends. And despite themselves, despite their grief at the loss of their home and friends, despite their lives still being threaten, they all found themselves starting to smile and laugh at Jester jokes and stories and even Jester, himself felt himself start to smile and feeling a tiny bit lighter as he watched his friends laughing at his jokes. But still, her not being there with them still ate away at his heart but he knew her well enough to know that she would never forgive him for mopping and being distant and angry with their friends. She would want him to start healing and helping their friends to heal as well. She would want him to continue on with his life and not to forsake it simply because of her.

But, how? How was he to do that, without her by his side?

He lay on his bed roll staring up at the stars overhead, his brain immediately pointing out the constellations that his mother had taught him so very long ago and that he himself had in turn taught his friends, along with their stories. Though it was only Jane and Dragon who had ever been truly interested in their stories, repeatedly asking him to tell them the tales of Orion, the Hunter and of the great dragon Draco (Dragon was, of course, especially fond of his tales about Draco.).

He rubbed his hand across his eyes, once more feeling tears filling in them. He wondered if where Jane was, if she too was looking up at the night sky, at the stars and thinking of them, of him.

He refused to believe that she was dead. But was being alive much better? What horror was she facing right now? Was she wishing for death to escape whatever it was that she was currently facing.

He squeezed his eyes shut at the thought. Jane. Jane. Jane.

With life, there is always hope.

Jester jerked upright at voice whispering inside his head. He winced at the pain in his shoulder but he couldn't fully think about that now, not with that voice still whispering inside his head.

"Mother?" he whispered into the silent night air. Nothing, but he could feel it. He could feel them, they were near, he was sure of it.

Moving slowly and carefully, he rose to his feet, this time not feeling weak or disoriented and took a small and cautious step forward to make sure he wouldn't fall into a heap. Once he was sure he had his balance he set out in the direction that he was sure he could feel them. His shoulder throbbed as he moved but he was able to push the pain to the back of his mind. He knew well enough that he would pay for it later, but at the moment he couldn't afford to waste time worrying and being in pain.

The night guards raised their eyebrows when they saw him but he supposed he didn't look like he was much of a threat to the group's safety because they let him pass them by without so much as a word, except a words of advice such as to keep himself well hidden and not to do anything stupid. He nodded his acknowledgement to them before continuing on into the surrounding woods. He had no wish to leave the group too far behind him.

"Where are you?" He hissed into the darkness, gingerly rubbing his wounded shoulder as he waited for them to appear in front of him.

And appear they did.

They appeared as they usually did, without a sound and with no warning, simply appearing, almost like they had been conjured from thin air.

Jester felt torn between delight and happiness at seeing them all again while at the same time furious at them for being so late.

"Late as usual! Where were you?" He almost yelled at them once they had all materialised. A small but beautiful woman stepped out of the folds of the group and moved towards him, her arms slightly spread outwards, her grey eyes grave and deeply sadden.

"We tried to get here as fast as we could." She responded as she came to stand in front of him, her arms around him and hugging him close to her. He was startled to discover that he was now a full head taller than her.

"But as you pointed out, speed has never been on our side. I am so sorry my son." She whispered as she released him from her embrace only for her to take his face in both her hands as she peered deeply into his own grey eyes.

What she saw in them seemed to only upset her further and she was once more pulling him down into her embrace, being all the while careful of his injured shoulder and to not cause it any further harm.

"Oh, my darling boy." She whispered into his ear as she stroked his messy hair. Jester closed his eyes, relaxing into her embrace as only a child can with his mother.

"You have to help us." He whispered, close to begged, pulling away and staring desperately down at his mother and then back at the rest of the troupe. "Please."

"That's why we're here, sweetheart." His mother soothed, feeling her son's body starting to shake with exhaustion and pain. "Come; let us get you back to your camp." She gestured behind her and without a sound the whole troupe were moving.

Jester watched them with glazing eyes.

"I thought you were never going to come." Jester whispered down to his mother who sighed and looked back at him sadly.

"I'm sorry sweetheart. We were far from here when we received your letter and even with all our skills, we had no way of getting here any faster."

"But you're here now." Jester said softly.

"Yes," his mother said smiling, running her fingers over his hair, trying to tame the tangled mess of dirty blonde locks, "and we will help in any way that we can."

"But I'm guessing taking back the Castle is out." Jester joked with little humour. His mother looked at him sadly.

"I fear so, my darling boy. We have magic and at times it can be great, but we do not possess the power that you are speaking of."

"Regina…"

"Is something completely different to what we are." His mother reminded him sharply and for a moment Jester felt ashamed.

"She has your friend and her dragon, doesn't she?" His mother asked as they walked slowly back to the camp. Jester swallowed thickly and looked back up at the twinkling stars above their heads.

"I'm so sorry."

"Jane's alive." Jester said harshly, his eyes blazing as he stared back at his mother. "She is. She's alive and she'll escape, with Dragon, the princess and the Queen."

His mother smiled a small but knowing smile that left her son confused.

"What?" Jester asked as he saw the camp fires of the camp up ahead of them, "what do you know?" he demanded.

His mother simply shook her head.

"We will speak of it later. Now go and get whoever is in charge of this camp and tell him that help is here." She spoke over his questions causing him to scowl and her to smile in some amusement. "Go, sweetheart, I promise that we'll talk later."

"Fine." Jester sighed as he limped away from him mother and the rest of the troupe that at one point been his family and whole world before it had expanded to Kingdoms, Knights, Dragons and a brave, fire-headed girl called Jane and headed towards the guards on night watch duty to give them a heads up that there was a troupe of Gypsies just inside the woods, happy to offer whatever help they could give to the camp, sighing as he went as he knew that he would also have to speak with Sir Tristram, knowing that the knight might take some time in accepting the help of wandering troupe of gypsies. But Jester just hoped that sense would rule over stubbornness and stupid prejudice for foreigners.

He could always live in hope.