Eclipsis: Water

Chapter 32

Relief flooded through Ondine the more distance she put between herself and Strom. The air had just been beginning to taste rancid. As they reached the second-floor, she turned to Junto.

"Won't Strom go looking for us if I don't return within a certain amount of time?" She asked breathlessly.

"The guards rotate every 15 minutes. It won't be the same ones in place, so the new ones, plus Strom and the others near him, won't know whether you have returned to your room or not." Junto replied.

This helped her feel a little more at-ease, but her heart still beat faster the closer they were to the dining-room. At last, they reached it, and Ondine nearly tumbled inside once the plain silver knob was turned. Junto closed the door quickly behind her.

"Here are the items you requested," He said, pulling a long length of rope from his pocket, alongside a paper map. "The club and grappling hook are in that drawer there. I came here earlier so I wouldn't have to carry them,"

She took them, thanking him, folding the map carefully before slotting it into an inner-pocket in the cloak. She couldn't afford to lose it.

"You have about 20 minutes before I come back with your food. You will need to be gone by this time." He continued firmly.

She nodded. "I know. I understand."

She secured one end of the rope to a table-leg, leaning back with her whole weight to make sure it wouldn't budge. When she was sure it was secure, she stepped out onto the window-sill, heart racing. Though she was on the second-floor, a lower floor than her bedroom, it was still a significant drop. She forced herself to take deep-breaths as she crouched down, wrapping the rope around her lower arm, and held onto the sill with her other hand.

She assured herself she would be able to climb down with ease. She had climbed up and down many ropes during many training sessions, so how different was this, really? Junto watched her as she lowered herself down the wall, her feet finding the gaps that she'd looked at that morning. Annoyingly, she had to keep moving the cloak out of the way; its length was starting to prove a nuisance.

When Ondine was on the ground, she tugged the rope thrice, and in the next few seconds, Junto's face appeared at the window. He threw the rest of the rope down to her, and she moved so it wouldn't hit her. The slap of it on the ground was muffled, and she stopped to gather it, shoving it inside the satchel for later. When she looked back up at the window, he was gone.

I'm on my own now, She thought to herself, turning in the direction of the wall. I need to make this quick.

The only light came from the dim moon the further she moved away from the castle. She made her footsteps as near to silent as she could, her hand grasped around the handle of the wooden club Junto had provided for her. She turned her head constantly to assess her surroundings in case she came across anyone. Luckily, as it was the back of the castle, there appeared to be no guards stationed here. The plants were overgrown, nearly to her chest, therefore providing her with cover in case she need to flatten herself against the ground to avoid being seen.

She kept to the darker shadows cast by the trees as she walked further towards the wall. The wind was cold against her face, but she could barely feel it through the fur-like material of the cloak and the adrenaline racing through her veins. A crack that sounded like a twig snapping made her jump, and she threw herself against the roots of a tree she was passing. The grass and weeds tickled her face as she lay still, breathing as quietly as she could.

She was starting to think that she was the one who had made the sound when she heard nearing footsteps. She refrained from squeezing her eyes shut, thinking for a second that if she could not see them, they wouldn't be able to see her. She was afraid to move even in the slightest, in case she revealed her hiding space to whoever it was. She resorted to listening, her webbed ears twitching to try and hear better. Some sort of tiny bug was crawling up her face and she had to stop herself from flicking it off.

The footsteps were getting closer to where she was, and she braced herself, getting ready to jump up and club the creature in the face. Then they stopped, and she held her breath, wondering if she had been spotted. A few seconds of silence passed, and then humming started, followed by a stream of water pouring against something. She frowned. Whatever were they doing? She took a chance and craned her neck slightly in the direction of the Moon - he had his back turned towards her.

Ondine pulled a face as she released what he was doing - urinating against a tree. Did they not have bathroom breaks? She almost shouted at him in disgust. He seemed to be taking an awfully long time - how much did he have to drink ? - and she was growing impatient with each millisecond. She decided to act.

His humming was loud, which covered up any sounds she made getting to her feet, and she tentatively took a step towards him, club raised. When he didn't so much as move, she took more steps forwards again, quicker this time, as he had begun to raise himself up and down quickly on the balls of his feet - he wasn't going to clean himself? She stopped a repulsed scoff.

The Moon guard had noticed her just as he was fastening back up his trousers, but it was too late. A hard hit to the correct spot on his head and he crumpled at her feet. She looked around quickly in case the sound had alerted anyone else, but no other Moon appeared to be close by. She grabbed him by his ankles and pulled him so he was hidden better by the plants, positioning his face so it was next to the darkened patch he had made on the base of the tree. She grinned to herself, knowing Alara would laugh at this, and was almost disappointed that she wasn't going to see his reaction when he woke up.

Before she left, she searched him, finding a small dagger, which she pocketed gratefully. She was at the wall now. It seemed much larger than before, as if it had grown since the last time she had laid eyes on it. Impossible to get over. Possible, she corrected herself. She pulled out the grappling hook from the satchel, attaching the rope to it, and stood back to throw. Every time she missed, or didn't manage to throw high enough, desperation clawed at her throat. She was overly conscious that this was taking up a lot of time. What if the Moon guard she knocked out woke up? What if he had been with others, and they tried to find him? Was anyone aware that she was missing from her room?

At last, the grappling hook stuck. She yanked the rope a few times just to make sure it was secure, and then withdrew the dagger she had stolen from the guard, stabbing it into the wall to see if it would stick. It did, and she allowed herself a moment of pride as she once again wrapped the rope around one arm. Climbing up a wall was much harder than climbing down one, especially as this one was so high, but the grappling hook was holding well, and didn't budge at all.

The knife aided her, helping her pull herself up each time she adjusted herself on the rope, though each time she drove it into a space between the stone, it was quite difficult to manoeuvre back out. She tried not to pull it with much force, worried she would pull too hard and it would fly out of her hand, clattering back to the ground, meaning she would've lost her only proper weapon.

Once Ondine reached the top of the wall, she hauled herself up to sit on it for a moment, breathing heavily. Looking down at the distance between her and the ground made her feel slightly sick, so she instead flexed her sore fingers, preparing for the descent. She unlatched the grappling hook, reattaching it so the rope fell down the opposite side of the wall. A few tugs proved it was lodged securely, and once again, she lowered herself, toes of her boots pressed against the wall.

She kept checking over her shoulder to assess how close she was to the ground. On her fifth check, she felt her weight shift, and looked up in fright - the grappling hook must've moved. She scrambled down quicker in order to be closer to the ground, her fingers burning from the rope - why didn't she bring gloves? - and a couple seconds later the grappling hook slipped. There was a silence before her back connected with the ground, the impact knocking the wind out of her. She heard the grappling hook thump on the soil a few inches away from her. 

She lay there trying to catch her breath, feeling a painful throbbing in the back of her head; she knew a nice bruise would be blooming there and along her spine soon. The drop hadn't been far - none of her limbs were broken or fractured, she would just have to deal with a few bruises and some rope burn on her hand, nothing too bad. The cloak had cushioned her somewhat.

She had done it. She had climbed over the wall, successful for the most part. She pushed herself to an upright position, smiling, thankful she hadn't accidentally impaled herself on the dagger. She was free! Home to Sol now. She could almost whoop with excitement -

"Hello, Ondine. I didn't expect to see you out here so late."