The Thirteenth Princess

Escape of the Warrior Legion

What time was it? I didn't even know what day it was, let alone the time. I peered out of the window, and the glowing radiance of the sun was edging towards the horizon. I heard voices beyond the walls, and I could tell that there was more than one person there.

"Miss Zoe. What are you doing here milady?" It was one of the men from the forest.

"I'm delivering a message to our prisoner. Are you questioning me?" She sounded confident, and somehow stronger.

"Uh, no milady! Of course not" He stammered "I was only under instructions to let your sister enter.

"She has fallen ill, I'm afraid. I am taking this message."

"What might the message be?"

"The only message you'll be hearing, is that I will be passing into the prisoner's cell, and conveying this crucial communication, directly from my eldest sister, heir to the throne." The guard was standing by the window, and only then did I realise what was about to happen.

"But alas, I cant have you hearing the message."

"Why would that be Miss Zoe?"

"That is none of your concern." I heard footsteps once more, and she must've began to walk towards the unsuspecting idiot, elongating her steps until the point that she looked like a doe, strutting amongst the ferns. The bulky man eyed her carefully, but he let his guard down for too long. Zoe's expression must've changed, because I heard the guard mutter;

"What're you smiling for Miss Zoe? Did I say something?"

"You said nothing at all" the last I ever heard from him was a scream, which died down slowly.

"The key!" I whispered. "Did you get it?"

"I don't know. Do I?" The door swung open in a wide arc, and I saw Zoe, posed dramatically in front of the doorway. My heart started to race, and I was lost for words.

"Well, what're you waiting for? Let's go!" I stumbled as I started towards her, but I tried to play it off like I meant to. I think she noticed, because she stifled a giggle.

"Don't laugh at me. I just woke up." She regained her composition, but there was a lasting twinkle in her eye.

"Uh, sorry. Let's go then, before someone sees a body at the foot of the castle." She took my hand, and we climbed the stairwell, curled around what must've been a turret within the vast fortress.

It took us at least a few minutes to ascend the twirling staircase, and when we were at the top, I peered around at the ornate decor of the room we ended up in. The floor was of pale white marble, and along each wall there were a couple of columns, crafted from a white stone of some sort. Zoe squeezed my hand, which sent a jolt of electricity tingling up my spine.

"This way" she said with a hushed tone, and I just followed her. Which, in all honesty could've been an extremely bad decision. But I trusted her.

We traversed the maze of the castle, only stopping occasionally when we heard voices around the corner. In almost no time, I was blinded with radiant sunlight cascading from the open doorway. A girl with bright red curly hair was waiting just beyond the broad arc which was the doorway.

"Uh, ella, this is my cousin. Meet Izzy. Izzy, ella." We looked at eachother briefly, and she glared at me like I'd just fed her nana to a horse.

"Your hair looks like it went through a blender"

"At least you can tell it's hair and not a mop"

"At to a certain extent, could you just pretend to not hate each other? And anyway, you've just met. You won't have to spend much time with each other anyway."

"Thank god for that" Izzy and I said in unison. Zoe just rolled her eyes, and kicked us both in the shin.

"Stop acting like children! Now Izzy, where are those horses?"

"They're just out here. I tried to saddle them, but I don't know if I did it right" that lowered my hopes even more.

We approached the horses, and Zoe grimaced. I didn't see anything majorly wrong, but I suppose she had more experience than I did. Trusting her judgement I guess was the best chance I had. I could tell she was resisting from straightening out the dark leather bridles. Even I had to strain myself to not untangle the tassels adorning the blankets beneath the saddles. After she had readied herself, and retrieved a backpack she had conveniently buried years ago, - she told me it was if she needed to leave quickly - we mounted the horses, and prepared for the journey to a new life. Izzy slapped both of our horses' hindquarters, and soon we were fleeing the castle, the sunlight on the horizon chasing us down as we rode to freedom.