The Orphan Boy

An Escape of Sorts

I'm going to leave. Rayhanna told herself. I'm going to do it. I don't care what they'll say. They probably won't say much of anything anyways. She took a deep breath and walked over to her bedroom door, locking it. Then went back to the birch wood chest that she kept her clothes in. She dug through the chest to find what she was looking for at the bottom, where she had hidden it.

After she had fallen out of the willow by the stream and skinned her knee, she had cried for so long that Laina had come and found her and taken her back in the castle before curfew. The night as Rayhanna lay in her bed staring at the ceiling, awake, she wondered why she had never before considered running away. She didn't like living with the Stars in their huge stone castle and truth be told, none of them really wanted her in the castle either.

Why hadn't she simply left? Perhaps when she was younger it wouldn't have been a good idea, she wouldn't be able to get very far. But now she was eleven almost twelve, surely she could survive for a few days by herself.

That night she decided that she would leave and now she was ready. Since Rayhanna had only dresses, the last few days she had taken two of her dresses and had been sowing them up to be a long shirt and trousers. They were rather baggy but would serve well enough. Rayhanna collected a blanket, a coil of rope, an oil lamp, a dagger, and a map. All of these she would put in her leather pack until she had need of them.

Rayhanna undressed, stepping out of her dress. Then pulled the baggy shirt over her head and the trousers over her legs. She reached into her chest for her brown, leather boots, the only article of clothing that Rayhanna owned that wasn't brown. As she did the buckle of her belt that lay in the chest caught her eye. That was something she hadn't thought of. The belt, she fastened around her waist, which held the extra folds of her rather large shirt back. Her dagger, which was still in it's sheath, she took out of her pack and slid it into her belt. This way it was more easily accessible.

Next her boots she slid onto her feet then her pack over her shoulders.

She was now ready to leave, just then a knock came from the door followed by Laina's voice.

"Rayhanna, child, are you dressing?"

Rayhanna hadn't anticipated that Laina would come up to her room. She thought the by now Laina had gone to bed. Quickly she slid her trousers down to her knees so that when she called back to Laina, "Yes, I'm dressing!", it wasn't technically a lie.

"Alright then, once you're dressed I'll come tuck you into bed!"

"No, no!" She called back, panicking. "No need for that! I'm very tired I'd like to just go to bed immediately, if that's alright."

"Are you sure?" Laina asked suspiciously.

"I'm sure!"

"Good night then, I'll see you in the morning!"

"Yes, good night Laina!" Rayhanna could breath again, she wouldn't be caught.

"Oh and Rayhanna, you're Father will be back soon." Laina called, then Rayhanna heard her footsteps receding.

If Laina had wanted to make Rayhanna feel guilty she had succeeded. How could she have forgotten about her Father? How would her Father if her returned home after his exhausting journey across the sky to find that his only child had intentionally run away? The thought was terrible.

After a moment of thinking it over, Rayhanna still decided to leave. Her Father might miss her but not for long, it wasn't as if he would be completely alone here. Besides it was too late for her to turn back now.

She had planned on, after everyone went to sleep, slipping down to the kitchen and stealing food for herself. Rayhanna hadn't liked to think of it as stealing, instead it was just using or borrowing. However she had quickly realized that it was the same no matter what she or anyone else called it.

Once she has gone down the steps of the tower from her room. As she went down the steps she was surprised at how quiet she was, or rather could be when she tried. She could barely hear her own footsteps. It was a somewhat new feeling to her, to be pleased with something she could do on her own with no one else's help.

The kitchen door hung open just a crack. Rayhanna gently pushed inward on the door and she winced when it creaked, not wanting anyone to hear. She slipped into the kitchen and came back out with a loaf of bread, a hunk of cheese, several strips of jerky, and dried apple slices. These she had rapped in cloth then stuffed into her pack. She had also grabbed a canteen full of water from the kitchen which she also stuffed into her pack, which she shouldered just before shutting the kitchen door.

After she had gone to the kitchen Rayhanna went to the stables. To do this she had to cross the courtyard. She went as quietly as she could and moved very slowly ducking behind bushes and trees so that the guards on the castle walls didn't notice her.

Eventually she reached the stables where she found Clarra in a stall. The horse whinnied to her. Rayhanna scratched Clarra's nose and whispered softly to her in an attempt to science the beast. She lead her mare out of her stall and saddled her as quickly as she could without making too much noise. She lead the horse by the reins, not daring to mount her yet.

The castle, when it was built, hadn't been built for purposes of defense. It had been before the King had left and Abbadon had helped split the nation. Because of this there were many doors leading out of the castle besides the main gate that was manned day and night. One of these was a little door that lead out the back of the castle to the well and gardens. The door was large enough for a horse to walk through. This was the door that Rayhanna used to get out of the castle.

She past rows and rows of vegetables, beats, potatoes, carrots, radishes, and many other root crops. They all grew on a long, gently slopping hill. At the bottom of the hill grew apples, pear, and cherry trees. These were the only fruits that were hardy enough to survive this high up in the mountains.

The walk down the hill was rather pleasant. The moon was full or nearly full so that the bright moonlight washed over everything, bathing her surroundings in a silvery glow. There was no noise other than her footsteps and an owl that hooted nearby.

As Rayhanna had been making her shirt and trousers she had wondered if she should leave at night or during the day. If she left during the day it would be both much harder to leave and easier for the Stars to catch up with her. But if she left at night she wouldn't have the light of the Sun and could much more easily lose her way. Eventually she had decided to leave at night since she had asked Laina about how full the moon would be within the next few days, she had told Rayhanna that it was waxing.

Once Rayhanna was down the hill then out of the sight of the castle she climbed up onto Clarra, swinging her foot around then into the other stirrup. Rayhanna then flicked her reins and dug her heels into the horses sides. Clarra whinnied and started at a fairly quick place. Not too fast however, Rayhanna didn't want Clarra to stumble or even fall in the rocky terrain.

As she rode on the night grew cold and the wind started blowing which made the ride that much colder. Rayhanna pulled her cloak tightly around her and glanced at the trees on either side. Their long low branches began to look eerily like a groping hand. The wind blew through the trees, making Rayhanna think that there were things moving in the woods on both sides of her. The owl that she had heard near the castle seemed to be following her. She could hear it hooting which before had been a pleasant sound but now, with no company but her horse and having gone farther than she had ever been from the castle, it was another matter. The noise made the hair on her arms and legs stand up and sent shivers down her back.

Rayhanna began to long for her warm bed. Her bed that was in a stone tower inside a guarded castle. She would have woken up to Laina's familiar voice and a warm breakfast. Here she would, once she had gone to sleep, wake to stale bread. She would wake to unknown lands, without any real idea of where she was heading. Now Rayhanna could see very clearly as to why she hand't run away before, but it was much too late to turn back now.