Fic: Sword in the stone part 2 PG, J2 and Disney

Apr 30, 2009 13:28

 

Jensen hated being scolded, but he knew he deserved it. None of his chores were done, and he had lost the hat. Moreover, Kay and his father were reduced to eating leftovers because he had spoiled the hunt. He was just glad that he had  eaten at Jeffrey’s house; it looked as if all of Kay’s dogs were getting his share of dinner.

Sir Ector was in fine form, and he was only halfway through his rant when the door slammed open. Jeffrey, resplendent in fine robes, stood in the doorway with a small bag under his arm. “I have come to train the boy!” he announced.

Kay laughed as his father blustered. “Train him?” he jeered. “I’d like to see you try! The boy is incapable of learning anything.”

Jensen flushed, afraid that it was true. But it didn’t matter. Sir Ector was his guardian, and as he was telling Jeffrey, he wanted the boy to do his chores.

“And if I help him with his chores?” Jeffrey negligently waved his arms, and the dishes began to stack themselves up and move into the kitchen, where he could hear them being washed in the sink. The broom and mop zoomed into the dining hall and set to work quickly.

Sir Ector’s face turned purple, while Kay just gaped unattractively. “What is the meaning of this?”

Jeffrey leaned over, and his warm brown eyes seemed to glow an unearthly and unfriendly red. “I would just give in, you know. I’m capable of far more than these parlor tricks.”

Sir Ector believed him. “Take him to the tower room, Wart! And when you’re done with your chores, let him train you. But you’d better get your work done, or you’ll wish you were never born!”

“Yes sir,” the blond boy gasped, then ran out. He took Jeffrey up a spiral staircase that grew more crumbly as they went higher. “I’m sorry, sir, but your room is  a little drafty. And well, if it rains, I’ll bring you some buckets. The roof of Sir Ector’s house is a little run-down, and leaks in places.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. A little water never hurt a wizard!”

He showed Jeffrey to a room, and before leaving, watched as the magician opened his bag and what seemed like his entire house flew out of it, including the owl he had seen on the path, which perched on the clock and watched him warily. Jeffrey, noticing his glance, told the owl to be polite. “Jensen’s never met a talking owl,” he said carefully. “Since you will be working together, you may want to stop preening and say hello, Jared.”

“Hello, Jared,” the owl said, no little annoyance in his voice.

Jensen had had so many surprises that day that the talking owl seemed the least of them. He politely greeted the owl and, suddenly sleepy and feeling that the owl was looking at him a little menacingly, he made to leave. Then, stopping at the door, he asked, “How do you mean to train me as a squire, sir? Should I get the wooden training post out in the morning?”

“Oh, we won’t be needing that, young man. I’ll come down and help you with your chores, and then we’re going to be off on our own,” Jeff answered.

Jensen nodded, confused, and went down the stairs. As soon as he had left, Jared turned back into his true self and turned his annoyance onto Jeffrey. “Why am I here? What are you up to? And how are you going to be doing my training if you’re doing his?”

“Don’t worry,” the magician said enigmatically. “I will be doing both. Now, here is what I want you to do.”

*

Then began the oddest period of his life that Jensen would ever know.

In the morning, Jeff would wave his wand and get started on whatever chores Sir Ector had ordered done that day, from polishing the armor to cleaning the stables. Then he would grab Jensen and pull him along to do things that had nothing, as far as the young boy could tell, to do with being a squire. Kay certainly did not know them. They often involved academic things like learning to read and write, using complicated and dusty old tomes. Oddly enough, the talking owl was dragged into learning them as well. At least Jared complained as much as Jensen did, not that it did either of them any good. But as time passed, he grew very fond of his fellow student and his teacher.

Sometimes, though, the lessons were magical and amazing and terrifying, all rolled into one. For instance, one bright day Jeff cast a spell and turned him into a bird. He took Jensen’s fluttering body and had Jared teach him how to fly. He was about to change him back when the wind blew the tower window open. Jensen, who thought flying was amazing, could not resist.

At first, it was glorious, but then from nowhere a bird with giant talons appeared and made a grab for him! Used to avoiding Sir Ector and Kay’s meaty hands, Jensen dodged out of the way but he had not long been a bird, and he tired quickly. Spying a chimney that would be too small for the hawk chasing him, he tried to hide just inside it, overbalanced, and fell into someone’s fireplace. This was getting to be a habit.

“Well, what is this?” And old woman croaked. She was short and round, but her eyes were beady and not a little creepy. “Who have we here? Why, you’re not a bird at all, are you? This is powerful magic. In fact, I think I know this magician… Well, well, well. I think someone is going to be paying you and me a visit soon, Gen,” she told the cat that was watching Jensen as if he were her supper.

The witch, for she was a powerful one, conjured up a cage and put Jensen in it. While he wasn’t too happy about being a prisoner, he was somewhat grateful to be out of the reach of the nasty little cat. But as he sat there, he wondered what would happen when Jeff got there.

As it happened, he did not have to wait long. The door suddenly slammed open, and as Jensen wondered if Jeff knew any other way to make an entrance, the magician’s body blocked the light from outside. “Katherine, hand over the boy!”

“How about we duel for it?” She suggested with an evil little grin.

As Jared flew over to Jensen and, grabbing the cage, took them up into a nearby tree, Jeffrey and Katherine took their duel outside. Though Jensen was more than a little afraid of what would happen if the witch won, he could not help watching the duel with excitement. It was fantastic!

Both Jeff and Katherine transformed into strange and frightening creatures, each more deadly than the next. Sometimes it was comical, like when Jeff changed into a goat and butted Katherine across a clearing, but at other times it was truly horrifying. Jensen thought it was over when Katherine transformed into a purple dragon, despite rules that she could not become any make-believe creatures, and her hands closed around Jeff. But the magician disappeared! Before Katherine could become truly enraged, Jeff’s voice could be heard, explaining that he had transformed into a germ. Jensen wasn’t sure what a germ was, but it made Katherine very ill indeed.

As they returned home after getting Katherine into bed and providing her with some medicine, Jeff turned to ask Jensen what he had learned. Pondering on it for a while, Jensen answered, “To let others help me when I cannot handle something on my own. And that while cheating might give you an unfair advantage, you can play the game fairly and still win, with your honor intact.”

Jeff was obviously taken aback. He spluttered for a few seconds, and then laughed. “Well, I was only trying to teach you the principles of flight, but that will definitely do.”

And from that moment, Jeff began to look at Jensen in a very different way.

*

Their next adventure was equally exciting. Jeff took Jensen to a pond and transformed them both into fish. For an hour or so, Jensen had his eyes opened to the wonderful world that existed beyond the eyes of ordinary people. Who knew that the armor Kay had once thrown into the pond in a fit of temper could become a home for aquatic creatures? Or that zig-zagging through fluttering fronds could be so much fun?

But soon enough, the game turned dark. A huge pike came after them, and when he tried to make them full-size, Jeffrey somehow managed to trap himself in Kay’s suit of armor. As Jensen tried wildly to dodge the pike, he looked for a place to hide. But he could not see anything within reach. A shadow appeared overhead, and suddenly large talons appeared out of nowhere and plucked Jensen out of the water and to safety.

Jeff finally managed to make himself larger, and swam out of the pond. He quickly transformed Jensen as well, and they set off for home, after Jensen formally and graciously thanked the hazel-eyed owl for rescuing him. On the way, Jeff repeated the question he had asked after the Katherine incident.

Again, Jensen thought about it for a couple of minutes. “I learned to always be aware of threats, because danger can come from nowhere even in the most peaceful of surroundings.” Then, waiting a beat, he continued, “And I learned to swim.”

*

The third adventure was the most painful. It began when Jeffrey transformed them both into squirrels. As they scampered up a tree, Jensen began to wonder what he could hope to learn from this. Perhaps it was how not to fall out of trees…

Soon, they were met by another couple of squirrels, a mother and daughter. As the mother chased Jeffrey around, apparently eager for a new husband, the daughter and Jensen began to play. It took the young squirrel three tree-to-tree leaps to realize that the daughter was after the same thing as her mother; she was just more subtle about it.

Not being the slightest bit interested in starting a relationship with a squirrel, Jensen tried to nicely let her down, but it turned out that he could not speak squirrel and the squirrel could not speak English. She  was very sweet, and kept trying to offer him nuts and work out what he was trying to say.

Jeffrey kept trying to escape the mother, but she was fiercely dedicated to the idea of finding a mate. Finally, when she grabbed his tail, he lost his temper and took back his natural form. The mother squirrel began to throw nuts at him and scold him angrily; her daughter did not take Jensen’s transformation so easily. When he became larger, she hid and chattered sadly, breaking his heart. He thought he even saw her cry, and his heart ached for her.

“Well,” Jeff began, but that was too much for Jensen.

“Why are you doing this?” He asked in something approaching a roar, but even he could hear the tears in the back of his throat. “Why are you teaching me all of this?”

A tear ran down Jeff’s cheek, showing that he, too, was not unmoved. “Because I cannot give you so much power without showing you how easy it is to hurt people, that your actions have consequences. And so help me, I cannot entrust the fate of a people in a child’s hands without knowing that the child is capable of as much compassion and care as he is greatness.”

“Greatness? Power? I want to be a squire! I want to be able to carry armor around and prove myself so that someday, if I’m lucky, I may become a knight! That does not require becoming a fish or a bird or a squirrel, so that I learn that I have the power to break another squirrel’s heart.”

Jeff grabbed him, suddenly furious. “I have much more in mind for you than to be a bearer of arms, young Jensen. You will be a king, but not a king like the kings before you. You will be a great one, and your legacy will inspire leaders hundreds and thousands of years in the future."

“No!” Jensen pulled away in shock. “I don’t want to be anything other than a squire. I’m not inspiring or great, and I don’t have it in me to lead anyone! But I can be a good squire.”

“A squire!” Jeff scoffed.

“Don’t look down upon it. There’s nothing wrong with it. In fact, if I, an orphan, become a squire, I've done very well for myself. I’m not supposed to get anything better than that, and I’m pretty lucky to even have an opportunity for that. I can’t be king, so stop trying to make me one!”

“Why, you ungrateful child!” Jeff stormed for a few minutes, muttering things that Jensen couldn’t quite understand, his temper growing worse and worse. He followed Jared’s example and retreated with the owl as smoke began to come out of Jeff’s ears. Finally, shouting something on the lines of “Blow me to Bermuda!” Jeff flew up and disappeared.

“Jeff?” Jensen asked quaveringly. “Jared, where has he gone?”

The owl shrugged, in what was a very human gesture. “I don’t know. I never know.”

*

Continue to part 3

disney, j2, fic, supernatural

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