Kingdom's Queen

Act 1: 14

A few hours and a tiny nap later, I notice no one else has come to visit. I find my chance to take off my shoe and use its heel to start trying to dig into the loose bricks in the wall. I look over for a moment, noticing a pair of eyes watching me.

"You're staring," I whisper.

"I apologize. I just want to know if it works."

"Well, if you can find a way into my cell, you can come with me." I shrug. "You seem harmless anyway."

"Nope, I don't condone going anywhere with strangers." He nods. "My name is Castro. I like the color blue and the sound of beach waves." He extends his hand through the bars to shake my hand, but I'm too tired to reach over. I just poke his hand back and go back to examining the wall. "Now, you tell me something about you."

"I don't know what my name is. I like the color of gold and the smell of rain."

"Good, now we're not strangers." Castro stands up and stretches while I finally manage to get a brick loose. The rest are easily pulled off the hole, leaving a massive opening for me to get inside.

I stand up and look down at my dress, "I don't want to get rid of it, but I don't want to leave it behind."

"Just take it off and bring it with you." He shrugs, gripping the bars in between us. "Now, step back." I move back while he tugs once... Once is all it takes for the wall to come off. He chuckles and grabs his cloak off the wall.

"You could do that the whole time? The walls are that brittle? Why didn't we go out that way?"

"Oh, please, there are a ton of guards right outside the dungeon. The tunnel will lead us all the way out of Moda in a slide. The guy who made it told me so." He points to the skirt of my dress. "Just take that off, the rest of you will fit." He continues to stretch while I do what he says, removing my skirt. I'm not a maniac, a pair of white shorts underneath my dress is always a must-have. I push my skirt into the tunnel and get in after it. Castro pushes me lightly, causing me to go sliding down the tunnel.

Smooth tiles line the bottom, a glowing algae covering to top. I slide quickly for a while, before falling out and landing on some wet grass. I look around, we've just come out of a cliffside, and trees sit next to it. I know these trees, Moda's woods. We've really made it out of the kingdom.

I chuckle lightly, knocking on the inside of the tunnel. I listen as Castro gets in and slides down. I pick up my dress and move a little away from the cliff, noticing I can see the castle. A worried expression moves onto my face as I look up, able to see through the windows at all the people inside.

Castro lands on the grass with laughter, jumping up instantly. He runs over to me and hugs me tightly, laughing and jumping around.

"Thank you so much. You have saved me, truly." He flinches slightly as rain hits his face, looking up. "Ah, how I missed all of this." He sets me down and looks up at the trees, grabbing an apple that hangs. He takes a massive bite, nearly able to clear the entire apple. He ruffles my hair as he hands it to me.

"What do we do now?" I ask, looking around.

"OH, right. We have to leave and get as far away from here as we can." He takes my hand and starts to run, but I can't help but look back at the castle. He stops, looking along with me, "What's wrong?"

"I'm scared."

"Don't be. Consider me like your father, I will protect you as long as you stay with me." He squeezes my hand and holds my face carefully. "You're very young, you can't be out here all alone. It's normal to be scared, but you have me now. I won't betray you like they did." The world slows down as I look back at the castle for the last time, my friends and family all in there...

"Goodbye." I whisper.