Knight's End (The Knight Trilogy) (10 page)

Jade scoffed and sat on the stump, crossing her legs at the knee. Aston sent her a questioning gaze and she shrugged; she didn’t feel like being ladylike.

“Aston! Aston!” She looked up at the young voice echoing through the trees. Aston winced. A young boy raced into the clearing on the back of a tall white stallion, jumping down and running to Ast
on. He jumped on the knight
’s back and almost caused the knight to fall onto his kill.

“Calm down, Richie, and don’t scream so loud. You’ll get me killed,” Aston laughed, rubbing the boy’s head.

“Guess what, guess what!? I know where
t
he Rogue is going next!” Richie exclaimed, jumping up and down. Jade and Aston both perked up at his words.

“Where?” Aston asked.

Richie grinned. “
Nothsbury
! Duke Roland sent word! The Rogue plans on killing the king! Oh, and Talbot is bringing an army to try and find you, so be careful!” Richie said.

Aston looked sideways at Jade
, like
ly gauging
her reaction
to the news, but she
pretended to be occupied with the hem of her dress
.
“Thank you,
Richie. You’ve done great. Don’t come back here until I send you a message, okay? I don’t want anyone getting suspicious and following you here.”

“Okay, Aston. Oh! I almost forgot! I took this letter from King Donn too. He hasn’t opened it yet and he will probably know it’s gone.
It just arrived today, but
I thought it might be important,” Richie said, reaching into his pants pocket and withdrawing the creased envelope. Aston nodded, looking at the scrawled writing across the back of the cream colored parchment.
Stretching her neck, Jade saw it was a letter from her father.

“Who’s she?” Richie asked, leaning close and whispering in Aston’s ear.
Jade barely heard him.

“Her name is Jade. Tha
t’s all I know about her,” Aston
answered, standing and going to Sterling. He watched out of the corner of his eye as the boy sauntered over to Jade.

Jade looked down at the boy approaching her. His face was red and freckled, his red hair filthy and matted. He was the most adorable child she had ever seen, strutting over to her with his chest puffed out. He held out a dirty hand to her, which she took in her own, laughing as he leaned down to press sticky lips to the back of her hand. She cringed internally, but quickly shook off the reaction. If she was going to travel with Aston, she would have to get used to dirt.

“Hello, Lady Jade. I am Sir Richard,” he said, forcing his voice to sound older, deeper.

Jade laughed on the inside, but tried to remain stoic on the outside.
“Well, hello, Sir Richard. It is an honor to meet you,” she said, standing to curtsy to the boy, who bowed low in return.

With the formalities gone, Richie’s face grew into a wide grin, revealing three gaps where teeth were missing. “You are very pretty, Lady Jade,” he said.

“Well, thank you. You are quite handsome,” she replied, grabbing the boy around the middle and pulling him into her lap.

“Are you going to help Aston be free again?” Richie asked.

Jade looked up at the knight, noticing the way he quickly turned his head from them; he’d been eavesdropping.
“I hope so, Richard. What happened?” she asked, trusting the child to tell her. She saw Aston flinch but ignored it; she had this powerful urge to help the man, a force within her telling her it was what she was meant to do.

“A bad man got away from him. Prince Talbot blamed everything on Aston, even though it was all Talbot’s fault. He’s a dirty prince,” Richie explained.

“I see. Well, thank you for telling me, Richard.”

“Are you a princess?” Richie whispered, and Jade stilled.

“Why do you say that
?” Jade asked the boy. Was she really so obvious? Aston had seemed to believe she wasn’t. Children always were more perceptive than adults though. They saw the world so differently.

“You’re really pretty, your dress is better made than the ones Madam Louise makes, and your eyes are lined with kohl. Madam Louise says only really wealthy women can afford to be all made up,” Richie explained. He leaned in closer to Jade to whisper
in her ear. “Plus, I’ve had dreams lately, dreams where Aston meets a beautiful princess and they go on adventures together.”

When Richie pulled away, his eyes wide in expectancy of her answer, Jade thought for a moment. She knew about Aston, about why he was searching for the
Rogue. Would it hurt for the boy
to know she was a princess? In answer to Richie’s question, she nodded. His smile returned and he hugged her, wrapping his grimy arms around her neck and squeezing gently.

“Help him be free,” he whispered, before scampering off to Asto
n’s side. “I brought you Edward
‘cause I thought you might need him,” he told Aston. Aston nodded
and ruffled the boy’s hair.
After a quick goodbye and a heartfelt hug, Richie left Jade and Aston in silence.

Jade watched Aston fiddling with the horses, tugging on their reins and checking their saddles. She could tell he wanted to ask her something.

Finally, he turned.
“So…I guess you don’t have any questions I can’t answer now.”

“You’re a runaway knight.”

A quick nod from Aston confirmed.
“You’re really
intent on coming with me?” he
asked. When Jade nodded, he pointed her to the white stallion. “Up you go, then. We have a quick stop to make along the way.” At Jade’s questioning look, he said, “We need to get you some clothes. And a bath.”

Jade scoffed and turned
away from Aston. He smiled and climbed on Sterling’s back, tucking the envelope from Richie into his satchel to read later
.

“There is nothing like returning to a place
that remains unchanged to find
the ways in which you yourself
have altered”.
- Nelson Mandela –

The trees were thickly packed together in this part of the forest, barely allowing room for their horses to wal
k through. Over head, birds
sang
in the highest branches of pine and cypress, saluting the morning. Quiet, melodic tinkling could be heard from the water running through a nearby brook. The sun shone lightly through the canopy of tree limbs, making small, well-lit patches between the dark shadows of low-hanging branches. Across the path, various flowers wound and flowed. Pink, red, yellow, and white decorated the thick grass
of
the forest floor. A light wind pulled at Jade’s hair, gently whipping it into her face before pushing it back again.

She tried not to stare at Aston’s back on their ride to…wherever he was t
aking her. He hadn’t said much
to her since their exchange that morning, and she feared he was still angry. She hadn’t meant to act so spoiled; as a princess, it was almost second nature. Deciding it had been quiet long enough, Jade urged her stallion forward so that she was riding next to Aston instead of behind him.

Aston spared a glance in her direction before putting his eyes forward again. “Yes?”

“Oh..um..” Jade hadn’t expected him to say something first. She was still trying to think of a topic for conversation. “I was just…wondering…um… why did you run away?”

“I thought Richie explained everything to you,” Aston said, glancing at her again.

Jade blushed and looked down. “He did, sort of. I just wanted to hear it from you, I guess.”

Aston sighed, but relented.
Jade wished she could see into his mind and figure out what he was thinking.
“I worked for King Donn in Fridel. I’ve been a knight for three years. Well, I guess I
had
been a knight. I don’t think I can use the title anymore.” At this, a frown graced Aston’s features, but he shook it off and continued. “I’ve never failed a mission and some of the oth
er men hated me for it. They said
I was too kind-hearted.  It never bothered me. I didn’t realize how much Prince Talbot hated me, though.”

“Why do you think the prince hated you?” Jade asked, her curiosity peaking. She wanted to know everything about the man beside her.

“He’s the one who lied to King Donn and told him
I
was the
one who failed in my duties
.” When she continued to stare at him, Aston sighed. “Talbot and I were sent to Adion to stop The Rogue Royal from murdering Duke Aeron.” Jade stiffened; Aston didn’t
seem to
notice. “A woman screamed while we were sneaking into the palace and Talbot took off, hoping to save a damsel, I suppose. I followed him, saw the Rogue leave the room across the hall, and chased him until I lost him. Talbot, of course,
wouldn’t take the blame and placed his actions upon my shoulders
. Which led to me being sentenced to hang. Well, that and the fact that I was…less than cordial to the king when
reprimanded me
. So, I ran.”

Jade didn’t speak
when he was finished with his story. She didn’t have the heart to tell him what she was thinking. Instead, she switched topics.

“Richie seems to really like you. Is he your brother?”

Aston laughed aloud at Jade’s question.
“No, no. He’s not family. Not
by blood, anyway. He
needed someone to look up to, someone to take care of him. I just happened to be the firs
t one who was willing to do so.
Can I ask
you something?”

Jade nodded
but didn’t look up.

“Who are you?”

“I already told you. My name is Jade,” she answered,
staring straight ahead
to avoid Aston’s searching eyes.

“Don’t give me that. You know that’s not what I was asking.”

Jade shook her head, refusing to answer. When she looked up again, Aston was pulling Sterling to a stop. They were in a clearing, but they weren’t alone. A small cabin sat in front of them and, as soon as they arrived, a plump little woman came rushing out of the house. Aston climbed down from Sterling and the woman ran into his arms, sobbing.

“Aston Smith, I should beat you for scaring us like that! What were you thinking!?” she cried. Aston smiled, rubbing the woman’s back, while Jade looked on in confusion.

A tall, burly man stepped from the cabin next, walking towards Aston with a frown on his face.
“I tol
d you to wait,” he said.

Aston only shook his head.
“I’m sorry, Delgrab. You know why I couldn’t stay.”

Delgrab nodded.
“Why are you back?”
Aston turned his head to the side and Delgrab looked at Jade for the first time. “Who’s she?”

“Her name is Jade. That’s all I know,” Aston said.

Jade blushed; it sounded so awful when he said it like that, but it was the truth. That
was
all he knew about her. She dismounted and strode toward
the man, determined not to look as
nervous
as she felt. She held a hand out to Delgrab, who grasped it and kissed it while she curtsied. “It’s a pleasure,” she said.

Delgrab nodded.
“The pleasure is mine, I’m sure.”

A sharp
smack
resounded from beside them, and Jade jumped, turning to look at Aston. The plump little woman was holding her left hand with her right, storming away towards the cabin. Aston’s head was turned to the side, his cheek red, but he was smiling.

Delgrab winced.
“She was really mad,” he offered.

Aston nodded, laughed, and went after the woman.

Jade looked back at Delgrab.
“What was that about?” she asked him.

The man
turned to
her and grimaced before offering Jade his arm, which she acc
epted, and directing her toward
the house. He grabbed
Sterling’s reins and those of the white stallion in his other hand.
“You should go inside
and
make sure Alys doesn’t kill him.” Jade’s eyes widened, and Delgrab laughed. “She wouldn’t
really
kill him…I think. But, to be on the safe side…”

Delgrab
withdrew his arm from Jade’s and headed around the cabin. Jade
stayed where she was for a moment
,
looking in the direction the man had disappeared in before
following Aston inside
.

Aston
sat at a small wooden table with
the woman named
Alys across from him. They were
speaking
in low voices when Jade approached. Aston looked up at her and, for the first time, she really noticed him.

Alys had obviously allowed him use of Delgrab’s razor. His clean-shaven skin was tanned and perfect, no trace of scars or battle wounds. His eyes were dark blue, just a shade lighter than they had been when she’d seen him in the forest the night before. His shaggy hair was dust colored, not quite blonde, but not quite brown. He smiled at
her, revealing rows of perfect
white teeth and she felt her heart flutter in her chest. It was only when he said her name questioningly that she realized he had been talking to her.