The guard looked at the youth with a bit of a confused look. "She did?" He asked as he took another bite of food before looking up at Jasper as he stood up. "Hey, wait." Dominic said before leaving to send guards after him.

Mariki laid there on her bed and sighed. Tikura watched the man as he moved closer to his master. The princess closed her eyes and turned on her side. "I'm fine, I guess." She said without looking at the person.

Jasper ran around the castle trying to find signs of where Mariki could be. Desperation started to fill him as he looked for her and slowly he started to call for her. He had to find her before anything happened. He had to protect her if it was the last thing that he ever did.

The man frowned when he heard her and continued to straighten up the room, "well hopefully you will feel better soon. In the mean time I have message for you." he said and with that he moved. Getting behind her, he pressed his knife to her neck and smiled, "the message is be quiet or else. Got that." he said as he pressed the knife lightly into her neck.

Her eyes closed as she laid on her bed and listened to the man's words. But the part about the message confused her until the blade was pressed against her neck. Mariki opened her eyes and grew scared at what was happening. Tikura growled and started to bark to get someone's attention. The princess grew still as the blade pressed to her throat more.

Jasper heard the barking and quickly followed it, keeping a eye open for anything suspicious. Yet as he did the man smiled when he got her attention and whispered into her ear, "now get your dog to shut up or else I will kill you." he growled into her ear and then glared at the dog, "or I might just kill him too." he said as he smiled more and let the blade scrape against her skin just ever so slightly, making it clear to her that he would cut.

She closed her eyes as tears threatened to fall from her eyes. Mariki started to shake with fear as she felt the blade scrape her skin. "T-Tikura... go and be quiet." Her eyes went to her loyal companion as he looked at her and left the room. The dog went searching for a guard before he bumped into Jasper. He stared at him for a moment then started to lead Jasper to the princess.

THe man smiled when he heard her and saw the dog go. "good, now follow me." he said and was just about to get her to go out the door when Jasper came in. He glared at the man and made sure he couldn't leave through the door. "let go of Mariki." he growled at him. The man just laughed, "if you make a move, I will cut her." he said as he pressed the knife closer to her neck. "now move out of the way an-" with that Jasper moved. If he was talking he was distracted and he quickly tackled the guy away from her. A all out fight broke out between them but jasped yelled out to Mariki, "get out of here and to the guards." as he fought the kidnapper.

Mariki closed her eyes as he forced her towards the door. Her eyes opened with surprise as she looked at Jasper and tried not to cry. "Jas-" She cringed as the man pressed the knife to her neck more. The princess looked at Jasper as he moved away but then suddenly tackled him. Her eyes went to Jasper as she nodded and running out the door. Blood tickling out of a small wound on her neck. Dominic was already half way up the stairs with five other men. He grabbed the princess and started to treat her wound as she trembled. The rest of the guards went to help Jasper.

Jasper and the man fought for a while and he hardly even noticed when more guards came. This was a fight for either a win or lose, death or life. Some blood drops started to appear on the floor form where Jasper had gotten cut and stabbed during their fight but soon he got the upper hand. Grabbing the knife, he made his final move and slit the guys throat. Watching as the mans eyes grew dim as he fell to the floor, he smiled. He then looked at the guards, "is Mariki okay?"

Dominic took immediate care of Mariki's wound before carrying her back up towards the room. The guards looked at the dead man's body before starting to clean up the mess. The princess now had to be moved to another room so she would not be targeted again. Mariki wanted to pass out from her ordeal. But as soon as she saw Jasper, she ran to him and hugged him. "Thank you. I was so scared." Her eyes closed as she started to cry.

When Jasper felt her arms around him, he quickly hugged her back. "I am glad your okay." he said to her softly as he held her close and let her cry. "I am just glad I managed to get there in time. I dont want to think of what happened if I hadn't of been looking for you." he said as he held her close and gently stroked her head. He owuld make sure nothing like this happened to her again, no one was going to get that close to Mariki with a knife again.

The guards looked at Dominic as they blushed before he dismissed them and left the room. Her hands held onto him as she cried and listened to him as she blushed. Tikura sat down next to Jasper and looked at him before whining. Mariki looked at Jasper as he stroked her head. "Let me treat your injuries." She said softly as she started to let go of him. "I owe you, my life."

Jasper held her close and was surprised when she let go of him but nodded, "you can treat my injuires but I dont think they are that bad." he said but wasn't really sure. Though when he heard her, he shook his head, "you wont owe me anything, I was happy to make sure that you were safe." he said as he smiled at her.

She nodded as before going to her nightstand and bringing the water basin to him. Mariki then went to her closet and ripped up a stained dress into bandages. "Please remove your shirt." Her voice trembled a little as she blushed and looked away from him. Tikura laid down nearby to watch over the two. The princess waited for him as she tried to calm her nerves.

Jasper nodded and then pulled off his shirt, pain started to shoot threw him and he guessed he was hurt worse then he had thought. Looking at her and sighed a little bit, "I am sorry if I scared you before or did something you didnt like." he said as he thought about when she ran away from him.

Mariki kept her eyes averted before looking at him as he spoke. Her eyes sparkled with more tears as she shook her and moved closer to him. "No...you did nothing wrong...I did get scared...but it was my emotions not you that scared me." She said softly before starting to wash his wounds.

Jasper frowned when he heard her and watched as she started to wash off his wounds. "how could your emotions scare you?" he asked as he looked at her, trying to figure that out. "I would think that feelings your emotions would be fun." he said as he looked at her and knew he like dhis emotions.

Her eyes stayed on his wounds as she wrung the rag into the basin. Mariki looked at the wounds closely and went to her desk. "A few stitches are needed." She said before getting out a needle and black thread. The princess walked over to the door and told a maid to bring her brandy and whiskey. Curious as to why, the maid hesitated before Mariki cleared her throat and the maid rushed off to bring her what she needed. "The wounds will need disinfected and you'll need to drink some." Mariki said ignoring his questions because her heart was still racing. Not from the attack but from being close to him.

Jasper watched as she kept her eyes on his wounds and wondered if they looked that bad. Hearing that he needed stitches confirmed that they probably were that bad. Nodding when he heard her, he smiled, "I wont need much to drink, it wouldn't be the first time I have had something stitched up." he said as he looked at her. He wanted to talk to her like before, like their was nothing between them. But she seemed to want to build a wall between them since she hardly looked at him and seemed to ignore him just slightly.

She looked at the maid as she brought the alcohol and dismissed her. Mariki walked over to him and picked up a rag to use to apply the alcohol. Her eyes went to him as she looked at the wound on his arm. "Do you prefer Brandy or Whiskey?" The princess asked as she looked at him with a slight blush to her cheeks.

Jasper watched as the maid brought everything that Mariki asked and watched as she got ready to work on his wounds again. Hearing her, he was surprised to see her looking at him once. Seeing the slight blush on her cheeks made her look 100 times cuter then anyone he had ever seen before. Turning away, he blushed slightly himself, "I actually like Whiskey more." he said softly.

Mariki poured him a decent amount of whiskey for Jasper and offered him the glass. "Here. You can ask for more if you'd like." Her eyes stayed on him as she waited for Jasper to take the glass from her. The princess waited for him to free her hand so she could tend to his wounds. "I'll do this quickly so you can go get some rest."

Jasper took the glass from her and nodded, "okay, but I don't think I will need much more. I am not much of a drinker." he said as he started to sip from it. He then nodded, "okay, but in all truth I feel fine, I am more worried that other people might come after you." he said as he started to drink some more of his whiskey.

Her eyes went to his wounds as she started to stitch them up. Mariki looked up at him as she nodded and finished stitching his wounds. She grabbed the bandages and started to finish tending to his wounds. "People always come after me. It comes with the title of princess. Kidnapping, assassinations, even rape..." The princess spoke softly as she finished bandaging him up. "You should probably take it easy for a day."

Jasper watched as she stitched up his wounds and wondered how she got good at this. He hardly felt anything but then again he could be drunk. Hearing her, he simply shook his head, "you should have someone watching you at all times, I dont even want to think about what he would of done to you if I hadn't come." he said softly as she finished up tending to him. He then smirked and shook his head, "hope, not going to take it easy. I have something very important to do."

She smiled a little as he spoke and wondered when he started to care about her. Mariki was the one that he tried to steal from and she placed him in a jail cell over night. Her eyes went to him as she stood and nodded her head. "Just be careful. Whatever you do." The princess said as she summoned a maid to take the liquor and dump the dirty water.