Mary and Clair had decided a while ago that since the Ashbury kingdom was not the best choice, they would instead head for the Harrington kingdom, which also neighbored Mary's kingdom, but it was a much longer journey to travel south to Harrington than east to Ashbury.
Clair was correct, at least, with timing. They reached the borders as the sun was starting to reach the horizon, not quite sinking into the land yet, but close to it.
Guards were stationed at the border along the road, standing stiff and at attention and Clair had a debate with herself as to if it would be smarter to just try and go through or to go around them into the trees. Eventually, she decided they were too close and had mostly likely been seen already, so to turn into the woods would just be suspicious.
They approached the guards and Mary let her cheek rest against Clair's shoulder, her body slumping so that she hopefully appeared asleep.
Except then Clair urged Snow into a trot and the bumping of the step caused the hood of the cloak to slip off Mary's face, exposing her cheek and possibly the upper half of her face as well.
One of the guards held out his hand, stopping them, and then crossed over to his partner and whispered something curt and short into his ear.
They both walked to the other side of the walkway and Mary did her best to shove her face into Clair's shoulder, to urge the cloak to fall back down, to hide her, but the second the other guard caught a glimpse of her, he reached out and latched onto Snow's reins.
"What's your name?" he asked gruffly.
"Gwen," Clair said smoothly, and Mary could imagine her face, her expression, daring the guards to find something wrong with them, to stop them.
"And who's that?"
"Bridget. My sister."
"I'm going to have to ask that both of you dismount."
"She's asleep," Clair said, gesturing to Mary as though they hadn't realized. "You want me to wake her up so you can what, exactly? Could you at least give me a reason?"
"Miss, please dismount immediately."
Mary's heart raced in her chest and Clair turned around, pretended to wake her gently and Mary turned her face away from the guards, focusing on Clair, who dismounted on the opposite side of Snow than the side the guards were standing on. Clair offered her a hand, which she took, rubbing her face with her other hand in hopes of keeping it hidden.
"They know," Mary whispered, very softly, when she landed on the ground, only inches from Clair's ear.
"Run," Clair whispered back, and then she took Mary's hand and started to sprint.
Mary stumbled and then found her rhythm, pushing herself forward as the loud steps of the guards pounded against the ground behind them. Clair let go of her hand but they stayed together, in sync, charging for the forest, for trees and cover.
And then Clair fell, crying out, as one of the guards hurtled forward and landed on top of her, bringing them both to the hard-packed dirt. And Mary hesitated, almost tripping, giving the other guard enough time to reach her and grab her arm, his fingers wrapping tightly, firmly, around her.
He flipped her hood back with his other hand and stared at her face for just a moment before grinning. "It's her."
Clair cried out on the ground, wrestling with the other guard, who rolled on top of her and pinned her down, still struggling and flailing underneath him. He looked up at his partner, panting, and said, "Better be."
