Jade (Part 2)

"Jade?" a woman's voice fell dead on the muggy air. She walked softly through the freshly trimmed maze of towering hedges, her eyes wide and searching.
"Ivy," Jade replied, stepping out of the green.
The woman took a deep breath, brushing her dark-brown locks behind her ears, and looked up at Jade with her cool gray eyes. Then she walked towards him, her cerise skirt trailing behind from her ebony bodice. And then, slowly, she wrapped her dark tapering sleeves around him in a weak embrace.
"Messengers say you are a murderer," she whispered, her lips quaking. Then she stepped away from him. "That you killed the King's first son. They saw you in the castle, Jade."
"Don't believe it," he replied. "Do you hear me?" He placed his hands on either side of her face and stared into her eyes. "You must believe me and you must help me."
"How can I believe you?" Ivy asked. "You said yourself that you'd never loose me to the Prince. You said you'd do anything." Her eyes began to shine with tears as she spoke. "Help me. Help me know you didn't do this."
"My Princess, I don't have time to explain," Jade replied. "Just say you'll help me."
Ivy nodded, wiping a tear from her cheek. "I will," she said. "What do you want me to do?"
"I need you to go to..."
"Princess?! Where are you?!" A deep voice bellowed through the hedges. Jade turned swiftly around the corner as a man came up behind Ivy.
"There you are."
"Who are you?" Ivy asked, turning to face him.
"I am Burlock, your escort to Castle Broc," he said gruffly, snatching her arm.
Ivy glanced behind her, to see if Jade had left, but she could still see his faint shadow from behind the leafy wall.
"Why would I want to go there? My betrothed is dead."
"Apparently you wouldn't, but Prince Tryte wants you there. That Jade is on the prowl he suspects you might get harmed."
He began to drag her away when an arrow flew through the air into his back. Ivy screamed, but Jade's hand rushed across her mouth and he pulled her behind the bushes.
"Quiet," he said, harshly, as they ran hand in hand from the moans and curses of Burlock. "Which way do I turn?" Jade shouted, as they came to a four-way in the maze.
"Left," Ivy cried. "No.. no, go right!"
They dashed down the path as they heard more voices.
"Burlock! What's happened?"
"Prince Tryte was right, that Jade has captured the princess!"
"Quick, turn here!" Ivy shouted, as they turned down a dead end.
"Ivy!" Jade snapped. "There's no way out."
"Tell me what's happening!" She replied.
"The King of Castle Broc is ill and dying!" Jade shouted. "Prince Tryte killed his brother so that he could be the next King thereafter having you for his Queen. But he found out about us! He'd come early this morning to tell you of the death of his brother and who knows what else... but he saw us meeting in the courtyard and he followed me after I'd left. In a rage he tried to kill me, but I escaped. Now he's hunting me down, saying that I killed his brother!"
Ivy nodded and pushed open a branch in the hedge that swung open like a door. She pulled Jade in and let the branches whip shut just as the other guards turned down the path.
"This is where I heard the voices coming from," said one man.
"But there's no one here."
Ivy had lead Jade out of the maze and into an open field.
"Follow me," she said, running towards a small group of pine trees.
They rushed under the shade and ducked behind the trunks.
"Jade," Ivy whispered as she peered out at the greenery of the maze. "Tell me what happened after you left me this morning."
Jade sat down and leaned his back against a tree, taking a deep breath.
"I climbed the court wall to leave," he started. "But when I leapt down to the other side someone grabbed me - Prince Tryte. He slammed me to the stone wall and pulled a blade to my neck. Then he forced me to tell him my name and where I lived. Then he smiled saying that I'd live there no more because no one would love his bride before him." Jade glanced over at Ivy who knelt beside him with her head bowed. "Then he said, 'so I'll slit your throat, just like I did my brother's.' But somehow I managed to kick him away and draw my dagger. 'Silly boy," he said. But he was nervous, I could see it in his eyes. He stuttered, 'You kill me and I'll kill you.' But I answered, 'I'm not afraid to die' so he let me back away and then I fled. He shouted to me, 'You'll never get away with this! I'll be hunting you down with a posse by daybreak and soon enough I'll be the King. King Tryte!'" Jade bowed his head, disgusted.


Meanwhile, Carbuncle bustled around filling a small brown sack. He stuffed it with papers, unlabled bottles, and food. Then, unaware of the foaming pot beneath him, he grabbed the cage with Tabitha from the fireplace and lastly, his old rotting staff. With a deep sigh he marched from his doorway, not getting three steps before he heard a loud BOOM. He bit his lip and slowly turned around to see a thick green smoke pouring out of his doorway.
"Oh well, " he said, forcing a smile and turning back to the road. "No time to deal with that now." Whistling a simple tune, he began to march down the roadway.


Prince Tryte and his men rode with haste until they came upon the small tent of the gypsy. Made from violet cloth and periwinkle scarves, it was propped up with smooth branches between the roots of one of the large forest trees, and adorned with bangles and beads.
"Bring her out here," the prince commanded two of his men.
"Tryte," the gypsy snapped, trying to pull away from the guards who dragged her from the shade of her dwelling.
"That's Prince Tryte to you, peasant!"
"Is it?" She asked, flashing him a dark stare. "And I seem to recall a time when you fancied 'peasants.'"
"You may release her," Prince Tryte said to his men as he dismounted and walked up to the gypsy. He brushed his hand through her long curling black hair and smiled to himself. Then he slowly stroked her cheek, but she turned away, disgusted.
"So do I," Prince Tryte replied, taking back his hand. "But that is no more." Then he rose his hand again and smacked her down.
"My Prince!" Sir Blake objected. "This is no way..."
"No way to what?" said Prince Tryte, spinning around to face his protestor. "I am the Prince, you answer to me!"
"I answer to the King," Sir Blake replied.
"And so me, as I answer to him also." Prince Tryte turned back to the gypsy. "Now. Did Jade say anything to you?"
The gypsy wiped the blood from beneath her nose and glared up at the Prince.
"He gave me a message to give to you, then he headed North."
"What was this message?"
"To meet him in the black swamps, beneath the wilting willow... at sunset."
"We ride to the black swamp!" Prince Tryte shouted, rushing to the side of his horse.
"What if Jade has left this message as a diversion?" Sir Blake asked. "Perhaps we should break into four groups and cover North, South, West, and East."
"Very good," Tryte replied, rolling his eyes. "But I take the Northern route."
"Where do you really think you are going?" The gypsy snapped. "You go to kill this boy? For what? Fun?"
"The highest pleasure," the Prince replied, mounting. "Even higher than you." He smiled.
The gypsy scowled. "I once thought you really were kingly, but as you come closer to actually becoming one, you drift farther and farther from really becoming one."
"Oh the logic of a gypsy," Tryte laughed. "I tell you what, my dear Fresia. When I'm King, I'll make you a Queen. The Queen of my harem!" He galloped off without another word.