Guard of Laughter

Chapter Twelve

 Jingle hadn't even realized that she drew Ryan. It was as if her hand had moved on it's own during the time period that she was on stage. He was just standing there in the crowd. And the man said to draw something she liked so...

 Oh. It made sense now.

 She was very glad that he took the notebook back and didn't show it off because wouldn't that be embarrassing?

 "Awww, tough luck. But you still got a stuffed animal, what's with that?" Ryan asked with curiosity. She had just realized why her heart picked up it's pace around him, so being so near him now made her nervous. "Oh, um. For effort?" She replied, hoping that they wouldn't ask what she had drew. "What did you draw?" Of course Jade would. "Eh. Just a random person." Jingle's heart picked up it's pace. What if he saw it? No. Of course he didn't. She kept the notebook up the whole time, so he couldn't have.

 "I wonder why we weren't shown the pictures. Although the winner was good, I felt that contest was weird." Jade said, mostly to herself, as they walked down the streets. 

 Jingle knew what those strange feelings she had was now. She liked him. More than a friend. But she didn't know what to do with those feelings. If she told him, what would he think? Would they stop being friends because of it? She didn't want that to happen. She liked talking to him, and being around him. The thought of losing that made her stomach twist into knots.

 The crowd was getting larger now, and it was getting harder to push through it. Jingle wondered how Jade was doing, she probably wasn't used to being in such crowded places.

 However, when she turned to ask about her well-being, Jade was nowhere in sight.

 "Where'd she go?" Jingle's heart dropped, and worry kicked in. What if something bad happened to her? She was the queen for goodness sake! This was defiantely a bad idea. "Must have got lost in the crowd." Ryan commented, getting closer to her in order for her to hear him above the crowd's chatter. 

 Jingle looked frantically around, trying to spot her friend among the many faces. She was too short to be able to look above the heads, so she trusted Ryan to do that. Jingle wanted to call her name, but was scared that it would give away her identity. 

 Then, the jester noticed through a small parting of the crowd, the back of her friend being pulled into an ally by a stranger. "Ryan! She's over there! Someone is taking her!" The knight took Jingle's wrist, and started to shove through the crowd. Muttering some apologies as he did so, but his focus was intent on catching up to Jade and her kidnapper.

  When they finally broke away from the people into the alley Jingle heard Jade's shout. "Let go of me, you brute!" "Finding the queen? This is a chance of a lifetime. I'm not letting it go." 

 The two of them kept running, it took Jingle all her strength to keep up with Ryan. But they were catching up all the same. The jester could see them now, the unfamiliar man who had took Jade was tugging hard on her arm. "Sorry, your majesty. You're a really nice girl, but there are many people who will give me a whole lot of gold for you." "How did you find out?" "The worker's corner has thin walls." He found out from them talking in Jingle's room. "Does anyone else know?" "Of course not. I didn't want competion." "Oh okay then." The queen took her free hand and hit the man in the arm. He screamed in pain and let go. "I'm not defensless!" Jade kicked the man in the knee, and he shouted again.

 But the tables turned when he pulled out a knife. "I might not get as much, but as long as you're alive I'll get my money." Ryan and Jingle were still too far away to do anything, though the knight still started to unsheath his sword. Jade felt the cold blade of the knife on her neck, and her eyes started to water. She couldn't do anything in this position now. Her kidnapper finally noticed Ryan and Jingle coming up, but they couldn't do anything if they wanted the queen to be safe. "Don't come any closer!" He shouted, pulling Jade against his body with the knife still on her neck. He pressed on it hard enough to draw blood. "Or she gets it!"

 Little did he know, however, that someone else was there. On the other side of the alley, Jingle noticed a person stealthily approaching. He was hidden behind a few crates until he saw this chance to attack. With the handle of his sword, he hit the back of the kidnapper's head, immediately knocking him out.

 The knife was dropped and Jade was free.

 She turned to see the face of her savior, and found that it was her royal adviser.