I knocked on Eda’s door the moment I saw the handmaids leave, not even bothering to take off my Jester uniform.
She cracked open the door to peak through before grabbing me and pulling me inside.
Her eye make up has streaked down her face in black lines. Her eyes were red and wet, a sadness I didn’t even know was possible. Those jade eyes I loved so much seemed to have grown dark.
“Mari,” Her voice was barely above a whisper as she looked into my eyes, “Do you think it is true what he said? I know I eat, but I don’t think it is more than I should.”
I took her hand, causing her to pause, “Eda, I know you are perfect,”
“Maybe to you, but what about them?”
“What about them? They are more foolish than either of us will ever be, they know nothing of beauty or kindness. Eda, their words are nothing.”
I guided her to the mirror of her vanity, standing her in front of it, “If you saw yourself how I saw you, there would be no question,” I dipped a cloth in the water on the table and dabbed the stripes from her face, “I would spend my entire life to prove to you that he is wrong, and that would be a worthy conquest.”
“What did I do to deserve you?”
“I was asking myself the same question,” I said, kissing her neck before resting my head on her shoulder.
We laid in her bed, my hat and shoes laying on the floor next to us. Her head was pressed against my chest as I brushed my fingers through her hair. I could feel her breathing match up with mine like we became one. In that moment there was peace: until the knock on the door.
“Edana,” The Prince’s nasty voice rang, “Open the door,”
Eda and I shared a look before we both sprung from the bed. I slipped the hat and shoes under her covers and hid myself behind the curtains, peeking at her and the door through the slit.
She opened the door where The Prince stood, his attitude less harsh.
“May I come in?” He asked in a somber tone that I never heard from him before.
She nodded and walked back from him to enter. Reggie took a few steps in before turning to face her, “I know what I said was wrong and untrue, so I would like to apologize. Not only for that, but for ignoring you for this past month.”
“Thank you,” She said, her voice still skeptical
“I’m sure neither of us truly want to be put into an arranged marriage,” He said, stepping closer, “But we are going to have to figure out a way to…handle each other.“
“What are you trying to say, Reginald?”
He gave a sly smirk to her as he brushed the hair from in front of her shoulder away. That smirk soon turned to confusion as under the hair was my face paint. There was the paint from the side of my face on her shoulder and my yellow kiss printed on her neck.
“What is this?” He asked, looking at her with anger filling his eyes, “Is there another person in his room?”
Eda stayed silent for a moment before hissing out two words, “Get out.”
He recalled, “Guards!”
Five guards entered the room, their swords already in their hands.
“There is a criminal in this room, find him.”
I tried my best to stay still as my breath became shaky and short.
“Where is he?” The prince yelled at Eda, trying to elicit a response.
Her eyes darted to the curtain I was behind for just a moment. But the prince and his hunter ability noticed, walking up to the curtain and pulling them back. He was taken aback by seeing me with smudged makeup behind them, but that shock was soon replaced with rage as he grabbed me by the shirt and threw me onto the bed. He looked at me with eyes that were nothing but his primal emotions. In that moment, I knew my life was at his mercy.
Eda lunged at him, pulling him back from me, “Don’t hurt him!”
He turned to her and whipped his hand across her face, causing a red mark to make itself known
“Eda!” I screamed as I tried to reach for her.
I was no match for the guard though as they grabbed my wrists and cuffed them with the cold, metal shackles.
“Go wake my father,” Reginald said, grabbing Eda by her shoulder, “We have a traitor in our midst,”
The two of us were marched through the castle to the great hall. The prince did not take his hand from her shoulder. As they walked in front of me, I would see his knuckles turn white from the pressure he was expressing. If it were not for the lack of my hands and the guards at my back, I would have fought back; the best thing I could do for the both of us was to stay dormant.
I could hear the Kings voice booming through the doors,
“What is the meaning of this? It is still dark out,”
The parade I was now a part of marched in, the king looking in horror from his throne at the princess and me. The guards on my back tried to kneel me down,
“I can do this myself,” I snapped, kneeling down slowly before falling onto my heels, looking up at the king.
“I found these two together in Edana’s room, Father. Look! His makeup is smudged off of his face and on her! Father, I have reason to believe that these two are engaged in a romantic relationship,”
The king turned his face down to me, “Jester, is this true?”
Before me were two options, denying or accepting. I would be punished either way, so, I might as well do it with love in my heart.
“Yes,” I said, “For four weeks we have been with each other.”
There was a collective gasp ringing through the room. They might think of me as a fool, but I know more than them.
“Is what he says true?” The King queried, looking to Eda.
“Yes, it is,” I heard her say from behind me, her voice small but strong.
The King turned to his son, “The Emperor cannot find out about this,”
“But I already have,” A voice who I assumed to be the Emperors said from behind me
The King’s eyes widened as his tongue stuttered for the words to say, but The Emperor cut him off.
“This jester might be a fool, but he is no idiot. He knew what he wanted and got it. My daughter is an idiot though. She would fall for whatever this trickster put in front of her,” he walked up and brought his daughter with him in front of the king, “Just because of her stupidity we do not need to break off this engagement. As long as this fool is taken care of properly, we don’t need to have this problem again.”
“My King,” I tried to speak, but the guard kneaded my back,
“Silence from you!” he yelled
The King put out his hand to the guards and came over to me. He bent down to me, setting his hand under my chin, “Over the past five years you have been my most loyal advisor. I considered you more of a friend than a servant. I thought so much of you, but this? This is unforgivable.”
“I’m sorry, My King.” I said, some somberness escaping in my voice.
“Me too,” He said, standing up and turning my back to him, “Imprison him, his beheading will take place tomorrow at noon.”
“You coward!” I screamed as the guards tried to get me up, “You fear that someone might ruin the power you have! You fear that love might stop you!”
The guards dragged me on the crushed velvet by my wrists, but I did not stop, “You are the fools thinking you can control love! That it is something easily traded! That just because someone is not like you, they are an idiot! I might wear the belled cap, but you are the real court jester!”
***
I sat on the dirt floor of a dimly lit cell. The stone walls whispered their mockery and the rats that raced through the bars thought of me as a fool. My makeup was falling off of my face with the tears, my heart heavy with the knowledge that I was to die and Eda would suffer greater at the hands of that awful prince.
A knock came from the bars to which I turned my head. My eyes squinted as I looked into the dim light and saw her stand there.
“Eda,” I sighed, running up to her. I placed my hands over hers, “How did you get down here?”
“Beta, she gave me a key,” She said, “She told me how you can escape,”
“What?”
“In this cell there is a trap door to which I now have the key. It leads directly to the forest,”
“Eda-”
“From there you will be safe, you just have remove your makeup-“
“Eda!” I said, “I don’t want to lose you!”
She became quiet and looked at me with those jade eyes, “I’d rather know that you are alive and happy than dead. You can finally escape and perform, especially with this,”
From her side she held up two things. One was my bag and the other was my lute. She opened the food slot and pushed them through, “You need to share your gift, make others happy, and be yourself.”
“But what about our life?”
Eda took her sleeve and wiped off my paint, “I will try to leave when given the chance and I will find you,” She held my face, “There is the man I fell in love with,”
“How do I know that I will see you again?”
She looked at me with tears slowly falling, “No matter what happens, I will find you. I promise,”
I don’t make them unless I’m sure of something. A promise is a pointless way to break someone’s heart unless you can keep it.
Eda was sure she’d see me again, and I had to trust her.
“I love you,” I whispered, kissing her as my good bye.
We separated, just for a moment, before she pulled me back, “I love you too,” she said like a prayer as we pressed our lips together one final time before I left her light to the trap door in the floor, finding the key hole and looking down into the dusty stairs, lit just slightly by torches further down the hall.
I turned to her one more time, we shared a smile before I said, “I’ll see you soon,”
I closed the hatch over my head, her face stuck in my mind as I turned away from the only person I ever loved.
***
Let me be clear, I don’t love my job; but whatever the next best thing is is what I feel. It doesn’t pay well and there is a looming threat of the royals imprisoning me, but I love the freedom from the face paint and stone walls. It took about six months after I escaped the castle before I started to perform. It began in alleyways, then the streets where people would throw coins into my hat. For the first year I lived off of those coins and sang songs that were written well before my time. Then, like a snap in my brain, I decided to start playing the songs I wrote. In a matter of three months I booked my first pub gig. At seven I was headlining. People would follow where I would go just to hear me, it was crazy.
After about two more years I finally saved up enough to buy a quiet little cottage in the town of my youth and to renovate it. From then on, that is where I primarily stayed. People would travel miles to see me perform, bringing money to the town and making fifteen gold pieces into one thousand in just the three years I’ve been here. It was just over a year into those three that I found out the then Queen Edana had died. At first, I kept hoping that maybe she would find me, but now it has dwindled down. It has been seven years since we last saw each other. I wonder if she even remembered me in what might have been her final moments or if she forgot the white-faced fool who held her for those angelic four weeks.
I stood on the stage in the pub of my youth, a full crowd below me, my parents looking proud in the front. I strummed the same chords I used to on the castle balcony on my lute now carved with fig leaves and jester hats. Her jade eyes stung my mind as I yelled out the last verse. She might have forgotten me, but I will always remember her.
I finished the last note and the bar keep came to my side,
“Give it up for the Marvelous Marius the Minstrel!”
I bowed gently, waving to the cheering crowd. But someone caught my eye, stopping my breath. A hood cast a shadow over her face but I knew her from anywhere. Eda . She waved gently to me, a peaceful smile on her face. I waved back, my gaze softening.
I promise.
