TFL ch. 19

Recap:Jack nods. "An escapade through the streets of Sicota?"

Grabbing his arm, I laugh, "Let's go!" At this point, I am willing for anything. Lord Edmund's words resound in my thoughts, "You spend little time acting like a lady." I shove it out of my thoughts. I would consider that problem out at a latter moment.

_______________________________

We exit out of the courtyard, laughing as we go. The guard smiles as he looks at us, an entirely different person from the one who threatened me mere days ago. In the presence of another man, men are so different. Jack nods at him, a smile wide on his face. Very few people could dislike Jack. Even as an orphan, his bright smile won our way out of trouble.

He turns to me with his eyebrows twisted into a hilarious expression. "Where ta' ma fair lady? "

I laugh at his exaggerated drawl. "I haven't the foggiest idea, dearest." I bat my eyelashes, evoking a boyish grin from him.

We giggle, wandering randomly through the streets. He points out people as he "reads" people's minds. "That lady is wondering when she gets her next crumpet." He points at matronly woman who devours a crumpet "discreetly" as we watch her. "That juvenile is desperately looking for the nearest outhouse." He says of a boy who bounces his leg anxiously as he frantically looks around. I drag him onto another street as my guffaws threaten to expose our cruel jokes. My mind slips back to Lord Edmund's reproofs in the arena. "Presumptuous." That word resounded in my thoughts.

"Ugh! I groan. Jack's eyes immediately gain a mock hurt look. "Pardon me, my love?"

"Oh, I wasn't talking to you! I'm so sorry!" He touches the back of his hand to my forehead. "Oh you weren't? Who may I ask were you talking to?" I shove his arm away and begin to sputter an explanation. "I- well- Lord Edmund- um- I..."

"You don't have to explain. It is quite all right." He looks at me, observing my emotions. I flush, embarrassed at my outburst. "You saw me and Gwen the other day, did you not?" He asks suddenly. Glancing at the ground, I nod.

"Well, so much for keeping that a secret. With your large mouth, I'm sure all of Sicota knows about us!" I smack him, laughing at his awkward way of helping a situation. To quell Drew's pestering in my thoughts, I clutch the note from my pocket. "Could you make any sense of this?" He scrutinizes the slip and motions to the right of us. "I believe I saw a Jelia Court in that direction. Not exactly the most noble part of town. Where did you receive this?"

I explain to Jack how I had kept the slip of paper for all these years, yet I could never uncover the meaning of it. He listens calmly then finally smirks. "Sounds like a dilemma for an extremely intelligent squire like me to handle. Why don't we have a look around for this Jelia Court to see if we find anything intriguing." We weave through the crowd, racing to beat each other back to the main street.

Jack leads the way off onto one of the side streets. My mind reverts back to when I was with Eric in these alleys. The streets are still filled with shadows even though the sun is nearing its zenith. I wonder if the cobblestones ever feel the sun's warmth. We turn onto a dead end. Jack announces, "Here we are. Jelia Court." Tucked away in the poorest section of Sicota, Jelia Court is a conglomeration of houses- or rather large piles of wood. On several houses, no doors stood at the entrance and at all of the houses, the windows were boarded up. Shutters hung at precarious angles and shingles were all too obviously missing from the roofs. "Well... This certainly fails to meet expectations." I say.

Jack shrugs his shoulders. "I didn't say it was beautiful... Perhaps sixth means the sixth house?" He says after observing the paper once again. I stride towards the last house on the left side, the other side only having five houses. The wooden slats that function as steps are rotted through and the creak ominously as we ascend them. No lock is on the door- actually, no handle is on the door either. I hold my sword firmly as Jack opens the door.

A voice shouts behind us. "I wouldn't do that!" Spinning on our heels, we hear running footsteps but see not a soul. Whoever it was is scared- scared cold.

********************************

Hi! Just as a warning, I have huge projects coming up so for 2 weeks there are probably going to be no updates. Sorry! Hope you are enjoying this cliffhanger! Isn't it torturesome... Hehehe... Who warned them?

Have a fantabulous week!