A Dark Knight

8. The Feast

I landed on Link and galloped towards the forest where my friends were waiting. Behind me I could hear the explosions of the castle being blown apart. In the distance I could hear a war horn blowing. But it wasn't coming from the Dundalk direction it was coming from Drogheda. I could now see normally again and I was glad of it because if I hadn't I would have been knocked off Link ages ago with all the branches hanging around. I soon arrived where my friends were. I dismounted and walked over to them.

"We won! We are safe! Yay!" cheered Charlie over and over again. Ruth studied me very carefully. "Wow.... Those burns....I'm really sorry about you mother Jade." she hugged me.

My whole body still hurt from the burns. I was glad I wasn't wearing the heavy metal armour anymore. The cotton hurt a little but not too much.

A war horn sounded in the distance. It was Drogheda marching into Dundalk. We helped Kelsey up onto Duffy as carefully as we could. We didn't join the fight but headed home instead.

Once we arrived home we brought Kelsey straight to the basement where I had been. Lady Caroline went up to her room and came back with a sewing basket. She ordered us to go and tell Lord Ozzie what had happened while she tended to Kelsey.

When we went up to Lord Ozzie and explained everything he listened carefully. When we finished he burst out laughing and rolling on the floor. We stood there watching tears roll down his face. "Explode?....Castle?....Brilliant!" he managed.

When he finally finished he got up and told us to post up a message on the town notice board saying that there would be a feast later on and that everyone was invited. While we posted up the message Niall fell to the ground, clutching his leg and moaning. We turned around and Kelsey was behind us smiling. She said that Lady Caroline wanted to see me, Clara, Taylor and her and Lord Ozzie wanted to see Niall and Charlie. Emma and Eve had to go get ready for the feast.

We walked up to Lady Caroline's room, wondering why she wanted to see us. Her room was  huge with a large red bed at the far wall. She had the largest wardrobe I had ever seen and a chandelier hung up above our heads. The walls were a cream color with paintings on it. Lady Caroline was sitting on her bed.

"Girls, I want to congratulate all of you on your victory. As a reward I want you to pick an outfit from my wardrobe to wear at the feast." she announced opening the large doors. I gasped. There was outfits of different colours, materials, patterns and shapes. Lady Caroline said to take our time and she went down to the feast.

After a long time we walked out of the room in a new outfit.

My hair was now out of its ponytail. I was wearing a strapless blue dress that was just higher than my knees and blue shoes with a small heel.

Kelsey was wearing a white dress that went down to her knees and a black belt.

Ruth was wearing a strapless evening gown with multicoloured gems around the strapless part. It went down to her feet and the top was rippled.

Taylor was wearing a stripy multicoloured dress that went to her knees and pink shoes with a multicoloured bow on it.

Clara was wearing a black dress that went to her knees and a red belt.

As we were going down the stairs Emma and Eve caught up with us. They too were wearing dresses. Emma was wearing a lime green dress and Eve was wearing a pink and blue one.

The six of us walked into the packed hall. There were six reserved seats for us at the top of the table next to the lord and lady. I sat down beside Clara and Niall. Niall and Charlie were now wearing black suits.

The table was filled with meat and poultry. There was vegetables and potatoes as well. The drinks were still, water, beer and wine. I had a bit of the pig and it was the nicest thing I had ever tasted. For desert there was custard and fruit which was also delicious.

After the meal jesters came in and started playing music. Lord Ozzie said it was time for everyone to dance. Niall stood up beside me offered me his hand and asked if I would dance with him. I smiled and said yes. It was the most fun I had ever had. Almost everyone was dancing. Kelsey was dancing with Josh Black, a tall boy with black hair and cobalt blue eyes who hated everyone. Ruth was dancing with Jake Mathews, another tall boy with a brown buzz cut and brown eyes who liked everyone except Josh. Taylor was dancing with James Grant, a boy with brown hair and brown eyes who I didn't know very well but I had heard he could sing really well. I didn't know anything about the boys who Emma and Eve were dancing with but Emma's friend had blond hair that stuck up and blue eyes. Eve's friend had light brown hair and blue eyes. Charlie was dancing on the table and Clara danced and sang on her own beside James and Taylor. Niall smiled at me as we danced, "Well Jade, you look nice." he said.

"So do you." I replied.

He was about to speak again when the doors opened and the group of soldiers who had invaded Dundalk after we left came in. One man stood up in front, removed his helmet and announced, "Lord, we invaded Dundalk and they surrendered immediately. They said something about Lord Jay dying as his castle exploded. Dundalk is now ours." Everyone cheered at this news and when we thought things couldn't get better, the soldiers who had been fighting Navan came back and said they had defeated Lord Dan of Navan and that we also ruled over Navan as well. After all this good news Lord Ozzie sent us home. He said he would send people out to watch over the newly captured towns in the morning.

I said goodbye to my friends who were going to walk home with their dancing friends. Emma, Eve and Charlie stayed in the castle and Clara said goodbye as she lived beside the castle, It was just myself and Niall left.

I turned to him and said, "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for the dance by the way."

"Jade...Do you want to stay at my place?" he asked. "I mean... you have nowhere to go."

I hadn't realised that.

"You sure your mother wouldn't mind?"

"Oh she won't mind. She loves having you around anyway."

So together we walked to his house.