Unknown Person

He struggled for breath, as he tried to come to terms with what had happened. He could not believe it.

He could not believe it.

How had the Lady Knight known precisely when he was going to murder Prince Richard and Warwick? How had she known that Prince Richard was alive in the first place?

When he had kidnapped the young boy ten years ago, he had been so careful to ensure that the rumour that the young Prince was dead spread throughout the country like wildfire.

He had been so careful to ensure that Warwick was hiding the boy well, to ensure that the Army could never find any evidence to prove that the boy was alive, and to ensure that none outside the Order had any knowledge about this.

Had the Order been betrayed?

Who was the traitor?

Did Warwick inform the Lady Knight about the boy beforehand?

But that was impossible! Warwick himself had not known that Master had ordered his death, and that of the boy's.

Then who was it?

Who was betraying Master so fearlessly, so brazenly?

Beads of perspiration formed on his forehead, as the grim image of his Master entered his mind. What would Master say when he came to know that he had not only failed to kill Prince Richard, but had also allowed him and the Lady Knight to escape together alive?

He knew. He knew what his Master would do. Master would march straight to his own hiding place and murder him as brutally as he had murdered so many others before him.

Master cared not about what he had done for him in the past. At the present, he had failed in his job, and for that, he would pay as dearly as the rest had.

Indeed, he had been extremely fortunate to have escaped Master's wrath previously, when he had failed to kill Lord Lucien the first time alongside his brother. However, that had only been because Master had still needed him to accomplish something else at that time.

At the moment, when Master was trying to obliterate the whole Order and cover up all its previous activities, almost as if the Order had not existed at all, he knew his life was in grave peril. Dying by Master's hand would be worse than dying by the executioner's axe at Bordeux, because Master was fond of prolonging pain.

He had seen that first hand. And he did not wish to die either way.

He had to run. He had to escape Monrique, and never return to Master ever again. Such a move required time and careful planning without Master's knowledge, but he was determined to do it.

It would take some time to sort out his affairs here in Bordeux and make sure his disguise here was still in place when he is to run away in the future, but he would do it most definitely.

To hell with Master, to hell with the fallen Order. To him, his life was above all else.

***

The Lady Knight

"Where are we, Jules?" Richard looked around, as we cantered into the village of Limoges.

The Sun was beginning to peek above the horizon, shining down faintly at us due to the cooling effect of the winter season.

I yawned, looking over his shoulder. Limoges was an earldom tucked away in the duchy of Carcassonne, which was situated exactly in the centre of Monrique.

According to the Potential Quest schedule, Nick and the rest of us were not to come to Carcassonne until much later. However, the circumstances were such that I had to set foot here a little earlier.

Thinking of the Potential Quest reminded me of Nick.

That, of course, made me wonder at once about what he was doing at the moment. Would he still be angry with me after finding out about my sudden, uncalled-for departure? Would he have reached Vareniol safely by now, and met Estelle and Elisabeth?

He must have. It had almost been four days since I had left Cavarriere.

At this very moment, however, he would be sleeping in his bed like the dead. Lord, how I pitied the first person who would wake him up!

I chuckled to myself, amused, as I remembered how absurdly grumpy he could be in the mornings.

Once again, a sad smile made its way up my lips as I found that I quite, and rather ridiculously might I add, missed him. Indeed, I was even half-wishing now that I had at least informed him of my departure before I had left.

But then again, if I had done so, he would have tied me to my bed to prevent me from leaving, and I would not have found Richard in time.

"You are laughing to yourself, Jules," Richard's dry voice broke me out of my reverie, "should I be worried that you are losing your marbles?"

I blinked, startled. "I beg your pardon?"

"I was asking you where we are now, because I do not recognise this area," he explained, sighing, "but then, you laughed to yourself, and I assumed that you have lost your sanity at long last."

I rolled my eyes. "Continue riding straight on till I tell you to cease," I ordered, "we are now in the earldom of Limoges in Carcassonne, if you want to know."

I gazed at the row of houses that stood on the sides of the cobbled path we were riding on, waiting to recognise a certain blue cottage.

"Why have we come here, of all places we could go to? From the way you spoke last night, I thought you were going to hide me in a tree hole in the woods."

I wanted to punch his back, but the sorry state of my hands made it impossible to do so. I settled with a hard elbow jab to his back instead.

"Your sarcasm is not appreciated, old chap," I muttered, "and fortunately for you, I value your desire to be free of captivity, so I planned for you to stay with a special friend of mine who lives here in secrecy as well. Do not force me to change my mind and proceed with the tree hole idea."

"Who is this special friend of yours?" he sounded intrigued, "do I know him?"

I hesitated for a moment. "It is a her," I corrected him, "and yes, you do know her well to a certain extent."

His shoulders tensed. "That...would not be very appropriate, would it?" the whole column of his neck reddened, and I knew his expression would have been priceless if I was able to look.

I chuckled in amusement. "Cease. We have arrived," I tapped his shoulder instead, as we neared the small, familiar faded blue cottage, which was built in subtle seclusion from the rest of the houses in Limoges.

A young woman dressed in black was currently tending to the gardens in front of the house, pushing back the veil around her head once in a while to prevent it from becoming wet when she watered her plants. She glanced up in surprise at the sound of Aurora's hooves thundering towards her abode.

I beamed at her, as we both dismounted from Aurora. Beckoning the uncertain Richard forward, I strode towards her gate.

"Greetings Jackie," I grinned, "remember us?"

***

Prince Nicholas

I gazed out of the balcony, as I held onto the porcelain mug of steaming hot tea with both my hands and brought it up to my lips. I watched as each snowflake descended slowly from the light blue skies, each with a different pattern of their own, each unique in their own way.

Smiling slightly, I reached my bare hand out of the balcony to capture one of them, and swiftly closed my fist to prevent it from escaping. By the time I had brought my fist towards myself and opened it, however, the flake had already melted, leaving a tiny drop of water behind.

I sighed, saddened.

"Your Royal Highness?" someone knocked on my door, startling me.

"Come in!" I called out, turning behind to see who it was.

The door opened slowly to reveal Lady Estelle, who was holding a cane to move around on her own. I started towards her to guide her into the room, but she held up a hand before I could approach her.

"Nay, Your Royal Highness, I can walk on my own, thank you," she declined, as she correctly made her way to the balcony, next to where I was standing.

"How did you know where I am standing?" I blurted out before I could think about whether it was rude or not.

Remarkable tact, Nick, I could almost hear Julie snort in my mind.

But Lady Estelle did not seem to mind my question. "My sense of hearing has compensated for my loss of sight," she smiled at me vaguely, "I traced you from where your voice came from, Your Royal Highness."

I nodded, intrigued. "I see," I continued to sip on my drink, "so how may I help you, my Lady?"

She hesitated for a brief moment, before she plunged on. "I merely wanted to ask after your well-being, Your Royal Highness," she began, a crease forming on her forehead, "you have been...rather distant lately."

I stared at her, mystified. As the Duchess of Vareniol, Lady Estelle had been showing me around her duchy and introducing me to her people for the past two days.

The main occupation of this duchy was wine making. It was a rather intriguing process, one that I had taken much interest in. The people of Vareniol were only too happy to oblige my curiosity, as they explained it all to me, down to the most minute detail.

Lady Estelle, especially, was bursting with energy during the trip, as she added certain points and anecdotes that the others had missed.

I had made sure to remember what Julie had taught me in Tessensohn about being on good terms with the people, but I found that it did not cost me much effort, as my interest was genuine.

In addition, the people simply adored their new Duchess and treated her with familial fondness and respect. It was a happy atmosphere, one that I had greatly enjoyed.

Indeed, the fact that this new Duchess was able to maintain the peace and joy in her duchy so early in her rule also earned her my respect as well. We got along reasonably well, and although Lady Elisabeth had been shy in the beginning, she, too, spoke to me more often now.

Truth be told, however, I had placed my full focus and efforts into learning more about Vareniol in the last two days, stubbornly pushing my worry for Julie's mission and the woman herself out of my mind. I did not wish to be as distracted as I had been in Cavarriere, and thus, I ensured I put my best foot forward.

And I thought I was doing a very good job.

"I did not mean to offend you, Your Royal Highness," she hastily amended when my silence greeted her earlier words, "it is only that...you converse with everyone with your usual enthusiasm, yet, I somehow sense that you are not always present in the real world. Something seems to be troubling you terribly."

I tilted my head, impressed. "You are very astute, Lady Estelle."

Another smile spread across her lips. "Thank you, Your Royal Highness. With your permission, I would also like to hazard a guess as to what the matter exactly is."

I raised an eyebrow, gesturing her to go ahead.

"You are worrying yourself to the brink of illness over Jules, are you not, Your Royal Highness?" she was confident.

I sighed. Were the blind truly so observant, or was I becoming too predictable?

"Good job," I answered morosely.

"It was rather clear to me on your very first day in Vareniol, Sire," she laughed softly, "but I did not wish to say anything then."

I leaned against the balcony. "Well, there is nothing you could have said, in any case."

"Truth be told, there is one thing I could have said, and I still want to say it to you," she clasped her hands at her waist.

"And what is that?" I was curious.

She turned to face me, and although I knew she could not truly see me, her pale blue eyes seemed to pierce right through me as she spoke her next words.

"She will come back. She takes her time, but she will finish what she has to, with no room for improvement, and she will come back to us," her voice was soft, "have some faith in her."

***

The Lady Knight

"Nick?" the young woman clad in black blinked at Richard, startled, before her eyes travelled to me, "Jules?"

A smile lit up her features, as she strode towards him first and held him in a brief embrace.

"I am not Nick, Jackie. I am Richard," he corrected her, chuckling, "it has been nigh ten years, and you still cannot tell us apart."

She looked up at him, and weakly touched her forehead. "My apologies, it been a very long time since I saw you both," she bit her lip, before her eyes widened in shock, "hold, but are you not supposed to be missing?"

"Jules found me," he grinned happily.

She turned to smile at me, as she walked towards me and gave me a big hug.

"Did it not occur to you to visit me at all these few years?" she admonished me gently, "you have grown up so much...what is this?"

She assessed my bloodied, sooty appearance, and the slight burns on my extremities with pure horror.

She then glanced towards Richard, whose injuries and their severity resembled my own. Till daylight, I had not noticed how obvious our injuries truly were.

"What happened to you, you poor child?" she sighed sorrowfully, as she reached out to trace something along my left cheek that began to burn with an agonising intensity as her smooth fingers slid along it.

"Ouch!" I jerked back from her touch, wincing, "why does that hurt?" I asked her urgently, unable to see my own cheek.

Richard, who had been watching us all this while in bewilderment, hurried towards me at that, and turned me around so that he could look at me.

He flinched the moment his eyes landed on it. "The whole side of your cheek is charred," he gasped softly, "Lord, I do not remember seeing this yesterday..."

I raised a hesitant hand to it, touching it with careful precision so that it did not cause me too much pain.

No such luck. It smarted on contact.

"It was too dark by the time we escaped those men on horseback," I reminded him, "you could not have seen it. By God, I had not even felt it yesterday." Indeed, now that I was aware of the pain, it was all I could think of at the present.

"Come inside, both of you," she urged the both of us, "I shall fetch you some herbs for your burns, and cook you something to eat." She turned to her gardens, but I stopped her.

"Nay, I am sorry, but I do not have much time. I need to leave as soon as possible," I gazed solemnly at her, "could we speak inside?"

She stared at me for quite some time, a crease forming between her brows, before she nodded, and led us into her small living room. She gestured us to sit on the seats there, but Richard's attention was caught by a huge, old portrait mounted over the fireplace.

It was a portrait of a young man of about seventeen years of age. He was dressed in a casual grey full-sleeved, hunting shirt and a pair of breeches, and had shoved his hands in his pockets, completely at ease. His locks of dark brown hair fell carelessly over his forehead, and his grey eyes almost seemed to twinkle in mischief at this particular moment when this portrait was drawn. In fact, he looked very much carefree as he never had been when he lived.

But what Richard was staring intently at was the golden Crown, exactly like Nick's own, that lay lopsided on the boy's dark locks.

"Is that Jamie?" he questioned quietly.

Jackie nodded with a distant look in her eyes, hugging her arms tightly around her stomach. "I drew it when I was younger," she added as an explanation, "he had not been able to sit still even for a moment. It did not come out as well as I would have liked it to."

He shook his head. "Nay, 'tis a good likeness, Jackie."

He was right. It felt almost as if James was still alive, gazing right at us from the portrait in that very moment. I could only imagine how much pain she would have gone through, having to look at it every day on the mantle for the last ten years.

However, I understood that it was also giving her the strength to live on.

I glanced at my timepiece, alarmed as I ran along the hallways as fast as my legs could carry me. I was already ten minutes late for training, and Captain Howell hated it when any Cadet was late, especially when the late Cadet in question was me.

"Nick, keep quiet!" I heard a voice hiss to my right at that moment, "I cannot hear what they are saying!"

I skidded to a halt, astonished to find Nick and Richard huddled outside the King's study, pressing their faces to the small crack that held its door open.

I walked towards them and tapped their shoulders. "What are you both doing outside the King's study?"

The effect was instantaneous. They jerked violently as if I had struck them, and their faces were as pale as parchment as they turned around.

When they realised that it was only me, however, Richard's shoulders sagged, while Nick's tensed further.

"Go away, Julie – " Nick started, but Richard clamped a hand to his mouth.

"I said, keep quiet!" Richard glared at his twin, "at this rate, they will hear us and we will never know why Jamie is in trouble with Mama and Papa!"

"Your brother is in trouble?" I was intrigued, "why?"

Crown Prince James was the good boy. He was his parents' perfect son, his siblings' perfect older brother, his acquaintances' perfect friend, his tutors' perfect student and the country's perfect Crown Prince. Nothing he ever did was wrong, nothing he ever said was bad.

Him being in trouble was almost unheard of.

Nick scowled at Richard, as the latter hurried to explain. "Half an hour ago, Papa returned home, almost dragging Jamie through the door," a crease formed in between his brows, "and he looked so...furious. Mama was accompanying a Lady we did not recognise. They went straight into the study and have been yelling at each other ever since."

I was extremely curious now.

"Let me listen with you, please," I begged.

"Go away, Julie – " Nick began again, more furious this time, but Richard had already pulled me down, such that the three of us were leaning against the wall beside the crack of the door in a stepladder fashion.

I peered through the crack, taking in the situation.

The King was standing upright, with his fists clenched on the study table, while the Queen beside him was close to tears.

In front of the both of them stood James, his normally placid face contorted with great fury as he possessively hung an arm around the shoulders of an unfamiliar red-haired Lady, who was sobbing silently.

"You will not marry this girl, and that is final!" the King roared, the vein in his temple pulsing rather visibly, "this is not open for negotiation, boy!"

James – the usually quiet, obedient, kindly boy shouted straight back at his father with disturbing negativity. "All these years, I have obeyed your every word, obliged your every whim and fancy, and did everything how you and Mama wished me to. Why will you not allow me to follow my heart for once?"

"You - "

"I am in love with Jackie, Papa, and I cannot live without her. Why do you not understand? I have been saying this over and over again for the last half an hour, and yet, you do not seem to have heard or comprehended a single word! I wanted to convince you to accept her, but clearly I have failed, because you have closed your mind and your ears already!"

"How dare you speak to me like that?" his father raged, growing extremely red in the face, "I – "

"Fred, please – " the Queen begged, the tears in her eyes overflowing, but the King ignored her.

"I am the King of this country. You, as my eldest son, are the Crown Prince, and thus, my subject as well!" he shouted, "therefore, when I tell you something, I expect to be obeyed without argument or question - and that applies to the question of your marriage as well. You will marry whom I deem fit to be your wife, and allow me to tell you, son: this woman here will most definitely not become the next Crown Princess of Monrique."

I glanced up at Richard and Nick, who seemed as shaken as I was upon hearing these harsh words from the King's mouth. For once, even Nick was at a loss of words.

At that moment, I felt extremely sorry for James and his sweetheart, who seemed like a rather timid and sweet girl. She could not be much older than I was, sixteen at the most.

"Jamie, you are only seventeen," the Queen cut in softly before James could retort, "if not for the sake of your father, think about yourself. There are a lot more things you have yet to learn that only age and experience can give you. Such a hasty decision to marry...Jamie, you are much too young. At least wait for a few more years, and then decide if you still want to wed Jackie. That goes for you too, my dear. You are both too young." She glanced at the red-haired girl kindly.

James' expression softened slightly at his mother's words. "I am sorry, Mama, but I cannot," he shook his head, sounding calmer than he had earlier, "because Jackie and I are already married." He looked down at Jackie, and they both shared a fond, loving glance that spoke volumes.

There was complete and utter silence for a long while. My eyes grew as huge as saucers, as Richard and Nick let out quiet, disbelieving gasps.

"That is so sweet," a soft smile unfolded on my face.

"You mean I already have a sister-in-law?" Richard whispered faintly.

"We are not forming any relationship with her until Papa approves," Nick maintained, whispering, "and I do not think our sister will be very happy about this either."

"Hush, you both!" I hissed and gave them both a sharp nudge on the knees, unable to take my eyes off the scene before me.

"You have done what?" the King's voice was low, menacing, dangerous.

The Queen was already about to faint.

James, instead of cowering in front of his father as he had always done in the past, now stared squarely at him. "Yes, Papa," he answered defiantly, "I married her a fortnight ago. By all legal and moral means, she is my wife."

He held Jackie closer to him protectively, and she wrapped her arms around his torso, looking very frightened by the row between her father-in-law and her husband.

"Then divorce her!" the King cried, looking quite deranged, "how dare you do such a thing without seeking the approval of your sovereign or the Crown Council! By the Lord, as long as you are the Crown Prince of Monrique, as long as you are my son, I will not accept this girl as my daughter-in-law. You will divorce her within the next fortnight, and that is an order!" He pointed a trembling finger at Jackie, staring at her with something close to hatred.

I frowned, worried. Why was the King so against Jackie? He was usually very calm, and he kept an open mind when deciding anything. Most importantly, he had never asserted his position as the King on his family members before.

What exactly had Jackie done to make the King behave in such a rash, adamant, deranged way, so opposite from the usual?

James let out a bitter bark of laughter. "I never wanted to be a Crown Prince, Papa. Did you give me the title after you asked me if I wanted it? Nay! The week after I was born, I was made a Crown Prince and you were made a King. You forced on me duties and responsibilities I never wanted in the first place. All I have ever wanted is to be normal, to live my life the way I wish to, instead of sacrificing it so blindly to this country!"

"But then again, how would you know? Did you ever care to find out even once? Of course not. I was your perfect Crown Prince, and you merely wanted it to stay that way."

The King was speechless, as James carried on with his thoughtless words.

"But she understands, Papa," he looked down at Jackie lovingly, "she cares for my well-being. She listens to me pour out my misery without judging or complaining. She makes me happy, as I have not been in a very long time. I love her, and only she will be my wife in this lifetime. If I cannot be with her as your precious Crown Prince and son, then I do not want to be any of those." With that, he took the sobbing Jackie's hand and pulled her towards the door.

"He is coming!" I gasped softly, "Nick, Richard, run!" Together, the three of us swiftly sprinted away from the study, our minds heavy with the knowledge we had gained.

Little did we know then that the worst was yet to come.

Soon after that incident, Nick, Richard and I had met James and Jackie in James' chambers. Richard and I had taken to the kind, soft-spoken Jackie at once, but for some reason, Nick was rather distant with her, as his father had been. Soon enough, the couple had hatched a plot to run away from the Castle, and executed the plan that very night.

However, when the King had found out, he had sent the army after them to stop them, capture James and keep him under house arrest in his chambers.

Poor Jackie had tried to sneak into the Castle many times after that to see James, but was dragged away by force every time, and had suffered quite a bit of grief with them.

Having no choice, she had fled back to her hometown to garner the support of her family - only to be thrown out of her house by her parents for becoming the Crown Prince's whore, only to earn the hatred of her fellow villagers for that same reason.

Once again, she had to flee from there to save her dignity.

Shortly after that, James had taken his own life, and by the law, Jackie had become a widow. A Crown Prince's widow.

Yet she still lived in destitute and in secrecy as if she were a commoner. Even after I had joined the army, there was little I could do to help her except to find her a good place to live and work in without being recognised by anyone.

All these, I had done without the King's knowledge or approval. But I earned Jackie's trust and friendship, as she had earned mine.

"Thank you, Richard, I am glad you think so," Jackie mumbled quietly now, "now, tell me what the matter is. Why do you both look as if you had jumped out of the very pits of hell?"

Richard walked over to the seats and plopped himself onto one of them, while Jackie and I sat on the other side. He and I took turns to briefly explain what had happened, summarising the tale as much as possible.

"You want me to keep him hidden here and protect him," she nodded tensely when I was done, "I can do that. I have several arrows, and quite a number of bows, swords and knives. If anyone comes after him, I can defend him. And I am certain he can defend himself as well."

I sighed heavily. "I am hoping that it would not come to that, but thank you," I shot her a weak smile, "it is a good thing that Limoges is in the middle of Monrique. Now, wherever I travel on the Potential Quest with Nick, I will always be a day's journey from here. If there is any emergency, hesitate not to come to whichever duchy I am in and inform me. Here is our schedule."

I whipped out a quill and a parchment from my sack, and proceeded to write down the order of duchies Nick and I would be travelling to for the next two and a half months and gave it to her.

She took it, smiling in amusement. "I still cannot believe he has to choose his bride within this winter season," she shook her head, "I wonder who would be the fortunate Crown Princess Consort this time." Her tone turned sad.

I put an arm around her shoulders, understanding.

Richard did not notice it. "Truth be told, I cannot believe it either," he chuckled, "however, I think he will choose Tess. They have always been on excellent terms."

"That is what I told him, but he does not even remember Tess," I muttered wryly, standing up, "in any case, I have to go back to Vareniol now. I will visit whenever I can."

"Why do you want to leave so soon?" Richard asked incredulously, "recover first from all your injuries, and then return. You are hardly in any state to travel all the way to Vareniol."

"He is right, Jules. At least let me get something for your burns – "Jackie started, but I cut her off.

"Nay, I truly have to leave now," I denied, "take care of each other, all right?"

With that, I waved to Richard, and briefly smiled at Jackie, before I turned and walked out through the door.

***