Inkitt link for those interested: http://www.inkitt.com/stories/61825

As we waited on the night to pass, my Lord sat and focused his magic to try and keep us safe. The other two with us were fools who couldn’t see how hard he was working just to keep them safe and to find their friends. Honestly, they both disgusted me. That idiot, Dino… Well, what could I say about him except that he was an idiot. Whiny. Spoiled. Helpless and hopeless. I really wasn’t certain why my Lord brought him along, but I trust he had his reasons. Perhaps to show the fool a bit about how a real man, and a real wizard, should act. Heavens knows, someone needed to teach him!

As for the girl Jess… At first, I thought she was simply an idiot farm girl who had developed a small talent for healing. Now however, I saw her as a disease, and one that might be harmful to my Lord. He, unfortunately, is a man, and like all men, he seems to have a blindness towards the fairer sex. The Lady bought my debt, saved my family, and gifted me with a truly caring and lenient Lord. All she asked was for me to watch over him and take care of him, as his heart was sometimes larger than his mind. I could see that now, and I was becoming aware of what she was warning me about.

For several hours, I sat near my Lord and rested against his side, but I never took my eyes from the dangers around us, nor from the two fools who I perceived as almost as much danger as the forest itself. My Lord was studying the forest and would find a way to keep us all safe from whatever darkness it presented, which left me to be the one to keep us safe from the danger that was here close to hand.

Finally, the idiot Dino moved away from the harlot Jess, to go toss some more wood into the fires. Seeing my chance to make things abundantly clear, I eased up and slowly walked over to where she was standing and alternating her gaze between the Fool and my Lord.

“Jess,” I called out to her lightly. “Can we talk? Girl to girl for a few minutes, where the boys won’t hear us, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure!” She turned, laughed lightly, and then bounced over to join me. Without saying anything, I walked out to the edge of the campfire’s light and waited for her to come stand beside me. “What can I do for you, hun? Is it that time of month, or something? I’ve got some herbs that can help with that. You should’ve said something sooner.”

Strange how she could act so thoughtful and caring, and yet keep such a cold look in her eyes. I doubt the men could notice it, but it wasn’t something she could hide from me. “Nothing like that,” I told her calmly, as I pulled my knife and slowly started to use it to scrape under my nails. “I simply wanted to have a small chat with you about the Lord Michael.”

“Oh?” Jess glanced back at him for a moment, then back towards Dino, before finally turning back to face me.

Leaning in close, as if I was going to whisper a secret just between us girls, I shoved the steel of my cold blade up against her crotch, where I was certain she’d notice it, without a doubt. Her eyes widened slightly, and she stood perfectly still and I caressed the tip of my blade between her legs.

“You should forget about the Lord. He’s out of your league.” Staring directly into her eyes, we never blinked at each other. I wanted to make certain that she got the point I was making. “For starters, he’s got me to help watch over him, and I know that you’re aware of his secret now. If, by chance, something does happen to the Lord, I’ll come and shove his blade so far up your twat, you’ll be giving birth to razor blades. You won’t need a man to please you anymore, as I’ll teach you the pleasure of a knife.”

Without breaking my stare, I slowly pressed inwards with the knife. Her face wrinkled slightly in pain, and I could feel the pressure giving as the tip slowly worked its way into the base of her groin. “Am I speaking plainly and clearly enough for you to understand me?”

“I.. I understand.” She barely whispered the words, but I had to give her credit; she was holding up fairly well given the situation. And, she was wise enough not to try and scream for the others. They couldn’t get here in time to do anything to save her, and if she did do something foolish like that, I’d gut her from bottom to top in the blink of an eye. She might play the role of an idiot to make the jackass Dino lower his guard around her, but apparently she could read the situation when she needed to.

“On top of all that,” I told her warningly, “I’m not alone. If something happens to me, there’s others with a lot more influence and might than me, who are also looking after the Lord. I’ve got a magical device that lets me communicate with them, no matter how far apart we may be, and they’ve already been informed that due to unforeseen circumstances, you were given the Lord’s secret. If I were to get hurt, sick, poisoned, or die while we’re on this trip, you would find yourself facing a rather unpleasant homecoming.

“I’m not alone when it comes to watching over the Lord Michael,” I stressed to her. “His talent is much stronger than Dino’s, it seems, and he’s caught the attention of much larger fish in the ocean. He’s already been claimed by another wizard of much greater power and status than anything you can ever hope to achieve, and they’d easily squash you like a bug…

“And with just about as much remorse.”

Jess gulped slightly, and then slowly nodded her head to show she understood.

“And one last thing,” I warned. “You had best hope that the Lord always remains safe. If something does happen to him while he’s still a student at the school, your fate is sealed then as well – whether you had anything to do with whatever happens or not. You know his secret. You might decide to sell it, or pass it on as a favor to someone else, and there’s no way you can be watched all the time.

“So,” I grinned at her slightly and then slowly pulled my knife back and tucked it back into my beltline before crossing my arms, “we’re not going to watch you at all. We’re simply going to work from the impression that if the Lord’s healer records leak out, or if someone stumbles across his secret and works against him, or if something happens – you were involved. Even if it’s just an unforeseen accident that the Lord stumbles into back at the school, you’ll suffer a fate twice as bad as whatever happened to him.”

Tears were slowly leaking down her eyes as Jess stared wide eyed at me. “I…. I understand,” she slowly croaked.

“Good! Good!” Slowly I leaned up and hugged her slightly. “Then let’s work well together and be the best of friends.” I gently kissed her on the nose before finally letting go of my embrace.

“One thing though, Jess -- you might want to take care of that.” Slowly, I pointed down to where a slight stain of blood was seeping into the front of her dress. “It looks like it might be that time of the month for you. You might want to take those herbs and fix that so the dead don’t notice. And, while you’re at it, you might want to patch that hole in your pants. The boys might end up seeing something you don’t want them too, if you’re not careful.”

Without saying a word, Jess turned to the side away from me. I noticed the tell-tale sign of her working magic to fix the small hole I’d put in her.

Whistling lightly and merrily to myself, I went back over and sat down and relaxed against my Lord’s side once more.

There wasn’t any way for me to contact anyone else and let them know that Jess knew the Lord’s secret. There wasn’t an unknown horde of watchers looking out for him. There wasn’t any way that I could carry through with any of the threats I’d made to her. Fortunately, however, Jess didn’t know any of that!

Just as I was getting ready to lay my head back down in the Lord’s lap so he could enjoy playing with my hair, like he seemed to, he finally blinked and looked around…