If You Feel Better

Chapter 57

Aya stared at the wooden planks and sticks that made up the ceiling, moonlight poking through the holes that perforated the haphazardly constructed shelter. She and the other slaves were lined up shoulder to shoulder on the hard floor, only worn, old sheets to cover them. Many of their feet stuck out the ends, tucked into each other to keep warm on cooler nights. Though uncomfortable and inadequate, they knew better than to complain. Having only their arms as pillows, each slave kept their single possession safe, otherwise exposed to the rain, wind, and cold.

Aya twiddled her thumbs restlessly, listening to the sounds of snoring, whistling, and shifting of sleeping figures around her. She prayed that tonight would go without a hitch and she wouldn't be discovered. There were many people that could stir and catch her on top of the scouts outside, who were on alert for robbers and escapees.

She had been waiting for several hours. There was no room for error, the first of which could be leaving before everyone else was fast asleep. But waiting too long would be the next. If they're not asleep by now, my chances won't be any higher later, she thought to herself.

She took a deep breath and very slowly sat up in her spot. She froze, waiting for someone to acknowledge her disturbance, but no one did. She very quietly rose to her feet, stepping silently on her tippytoes over slumbering bodies until she reached the entryway. Lucky for her, the time and care to build a door had never been taken on the shelter, eliminating the obstacle of having to squeak past a creaking door.

Her feet touched the grass of the outdoors, where she again paused, half-expecting someone to call out for a guard. When no such call came, she let out a breath of relief and ran quickly to a nearby pile of wood, crouching behind it. She took a few seconds to breathe and to assess her surroundings, carefully peeking out of the side of her cover. She saw two guards in the distance on each side in front of her, walking with torches in their hands: one in a field and one along a pathway, protecting their designated areas meticulously.

At the back of the house, underneath the master's balcony on the ground floor, Aya repeated Anou's words in her head. She mapped out the route in her mind of how she would usually get there. Of course, she couldn't just walk straight there as she normally would. She would need to get creative. It would take a great deal of stealth, but she was certain she could make it. She focused her attention at the guard blocking the pathway. He would be the one she'd have to worry about for now.

She quickly ran behind a wheelbarrow that was further up while his back was turned. She peered around the corner to see him still turned away, gazing in the opposite direction. He turned back toward her, coming her way, where she quickly whipped herself back behind her hiding spot. She crept around the perimeter of the wheelbarrow, staying just out of sight of the guard as his field of vision changed with his position.

Once he made his way down the path a little bit farther, Aya took her chance and bolted to the stone wall lining the far side of the path, taking the utmost care to move swiftly but soundlessly amongst the foliage. She pressed herself flat against the cobbles, side-stepping her way farther away from the guard who was still heading the other way. She rounded a corner, safe from the first guard, but finding three more in her way up ahead.

Aya huffed in exasperation at the sight, immediately darting behind a stack of boxes a little way in the grass. She peered through a gap at the three guards, their locations standing out brilliantly in the night by the light of their torches, giving Aya a very small advantage. If she could just get around them, the following turn should be the balcony where Anou said he would be waiting.

There was no cover between her current rampart and her next destination, but there was a large space of fields in between the three of them. I don't see another way, she thought. She waited until all three were faced away, then she flattened herself to the ground and slithered among the bushes like a snake on her stomach. Each time one of them turned toward her, she froze and spread out as far across the dirt as she could, waiting until they turned around once again.