Chapter 26:
Jean peeked his head out into the hallway cautiously when he heard the noise of shoes pattering on the wooden floor, holding out a hand to his men to quiet them. Once he saw whoever the loud person was, his face paled and suddenly the sinister, bitter, resentful avenger was replaced with a fearful and fatigued man who had spent all of his life seeking revenge.
The only other time when I had seen this side of the ever-confident and churlish Jean was the one time when he had been taken in as a suspect of a crime that had committed in a bar. All of the castle knew that he had committed the crime, and yet he still denied starting a brawl with half of the bar. My father reluctantly ruled that Jean was innocent, as he had no other choice since Jean was only a visiting aristocrat.
His face continued to pale and he sucked in a sharp intake of breath, but then he regained his sinister facade. Realizing the desperation of the situation, he began whispering harsh orders to his worried men.
“Quick! We don’t have much time, so all of you dogs put on some kind of disguise and carry two columns each! Be prepared to evacuate at any moment, we don’t know when the person will come!” Of course, he was not going to grab some work and dirty his hands, instead he just began to stare out the door as a ‘lookout,’ waiting for his men to comply.
His men groaned but still complied reluctantly because they knew how serious this situation was.
Before I knew it I was up in the air and slung over one of the men’s beefy shoulders, which was as hard as a rock and not comfortable at all. I wished that if I was going to die I would at least do it in luxury.
“Ugh!” he grunted in surprise. “Who knew that laundry would weigh so much!” He dropped the bag and I thudded to the floor with a boom. I couldn’t help but squeal, but luckily Jean’s laugh covered up my sounds as I covered my mouth with both of my hands.
“Oops, I was mistaken. The man is now gone. He turned the corner into the next room. We have some time now. Now let’s see about this laundry that you find so heavy.” Jean closed the door with a silent thud, and I realized that the door locked whenever it was slammed, so now we were locked in.
Suddenly, the bag, with me in it, was picked up in a jerk. I was now in Jean’s arms, yet he still had no idea that I was in the bag.
“Are you kidding? These are palace clothes, afterall. Have you seen the ridiculous clothes that they wear? In fact, I think that Adriana couldn’t be hiding somewhere here because her dress alone takes up half of this room!”
Jean laughed at his own joke, giving a glare that made all of the other cronies laugh along nervously with him. Their eyes darted back and forth, as if they imagined that an enemy would appear from nowhere. These men were trained to fight, not sit around chatting. “Yes, of course you were joking. What a wonderful joke. Why, I can lift this easily!”
To prove his point, he began tossing the bag, and me in it, into the air. My stomach moved up into my throat, and I began worrying that I would throw up any moment.
“I can even do it with one hand!” Jean taunted, knowing that now the man was beyond embarrassment. In fact, by now, the man probably would have rather died, and I noticed a bright shade of crimson settle on his square beefy cheekbones.
Jean and his men continued playing with the sack with me in it to waste time, while I tried not to retch all over myself as they tossed me back and forth enthusiastically. Every time someone caught me, I let out a silent sigh of relief, only to be thrown back up into the air. My stomach began to feel sick, and before I knew it I threw up.
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The Princess Switch
Fantasy"The last thing I knew I was being thrown into a sack." Princess Adriana lived a quiet life...that is if you consider constantly avoiding assassination attempts quiet! All her life she had been trained not to question why so many people were out to...
