The Midnight Escape - A Short Story

So, this is a short story that I entered into a competition late 2013/early 2014, and sadly wasn't very successful with. All the same, enjoy ^_^

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I wake up in the morning to sunlight streaming in through the crack in the wall beside my head, and roll over to find myself nose to nose with our goat, Peronelle. Shoving her out of the way I get out of my narrow bed and go to find some moderately clean clothes, managing to find a tunic without too much mud on it. My mum is probably already up at the castle cooking breakfast for the King and my dad in his workshop making weapons for the soldiers, so I grab a piece of stale bread from the table and run outside to meet up with my friends, who seem to have decided to play pirates and princesses this morning. We spend the day running around the village, brandishing crude wooden swords and wearing cloth armour. We’re just deciding who is next to play the pirate when my mother’s friend Emeline comes up to me, requesting to talk to me for a moment alone.

“Hello Emeline!” I say cheerfully once we’re away from everybody. “What did you want to speak to me about?”

Emeline puts her finger to her lips, gesturing for me to be quiet, and answers in a whisper – “There’s been panic in the castle this morning. The King was discovered dead in his bed and the King’s doctors suspect that he was poisoned. Your mother was the last person to see to King last night before he went to sleep, and she’s at risk of being hung this evening if she’s found guilty. She sent me to find you to tell you that you have to go back to your house immediately and pack what you can; she will meet you there when the sun reaches the top of the castle walls.”

I nod to show that I understand and Emeline pulls me into a quick hug, planting a kiss on the top of my head.

“I wish the best of luck to your family Rosa; I fear you may be in more danger than you think.”

I watch as Emeline turns and hurries away before running back home and beginning to collect everything. In ten minutes I’ve packed three small satchels full of food, spare clothes and other provisions for myself, my mother and my father. Glancing carefully outside I can see guards swarming along the top of the castle walls, and I begin to worry for my mother; what if she can’t get out of the castle in time? What if they trap her in there and execute her tonight? I feel tears beginning to well up in the corners of my eyes and blink them back, remembering that my mother has been working in the castle since she was fourteen, and knows every entrance and exit in the whole place. She will show up, just like she said she would, I tell myself.

Sure enough, I hear a gentle knock on the door just as the sun touches the wall of the castle and look out to see my mother standing at the door, her maids dress filthy and tattered from her escape from the castle. I pull her into a bone crushing hug and she returns it, burying her face in my knotted hair as she attempts to hold back tears.

“Have you got everything packed?” She asks me, shutting the door quietly behind her and looking around the small house. “Where’s your father?”

Right on time, my father comes bursting through the door and crushes us both in a hug, shutting the door carefully behind him and running around the room collecting more supplies.

“We don’t have much time,” he says, grabbing our satchels and passing them out to us. “I saw a group of soldiers walk past the door to my workshop a few minutes ago, and they were heading this way. We have to run. Now.”

At that moment I hear the shouts of soldiers and know they’re close by, my chest tightening as I realise we might be too late. My father swears and leads us to the back of the house, where he begins to kick down the back wall. I realise with a shock that Peronelle is still down the street and go to get her, my mother grabbing my arm and explaining gently that we’re going to have to leave her behind, as she might make too much noise and give us away if we take her. I choke back a sob and squeeze through the hole my father made in the wall, running down the dark streets towards the forest surrounding the kingdom, the shouts of the soldiers get louder as they get nearer. We make it to the edge of the forest just as the soldiers’ shouts reach their peak, and in a minute we hear curses as it dawns on them that we’re not there. Everything goes quiet for a minute and I see a small light down the street, and realise with a shock that it’s firelight. I go to run towards the soldiers, but my parents hold me down, and I turn away from the scene and sob into my mother’s skirts as everything that I’ve ever known is set alight.