A bird's freedom

Oakes

Night was cold. We left two hours after sunset. The guards changing had been rescheduled earlier that day, I had found out when delivering an ointment to a sick soldier.

Me and had black cloaks and cloth on us, to keep us warm and hopefully concealed in the night. Straatto was wrapped in cloth underneath Isla's cloak, on her chest. We had given the baby valerian root to make sure he slept quietly.

I peeked my head out the window, I saw no guards around, good. Ducking back in I looked towards Isla, she was shifting nervously. I smiled sadly. Isla had always been a girl to follow all the rules drilled into our brains. Not once, besides talking about changing the way things were, had she ever been guilty of breaking a major or minor rule. I felt sad for her; this would be a big change and step for her.

Walking over I had placed my hand on her shoulder, looking into her eyes, "you will be okay. I will get you out of here and we can live in peace."

She looked up at me unsure. Biting her lip, she grasped onto Straatto.

"I am not sure about this. What if we get caught? The punishment is death, Straatto would be without a mother. Or... a true mother at least." She said sadly.

My child may not be born yet, but I understood the need to protect our own children. I had grown attacked to my baby. I found myself constantly rubbing my stomach, it reassured me in times of stress.

I picked up the last bag and smiled down at Isla.

"If something goes wrong," I paused thinking, "I will try to help in any way possible."

She smiled a little, holding Straatto closer, "I know you will. Can't help but feel something bad is going to happen tonight. Promise me something?"

"Anything."

She took a deep breath in, "if something happens to me, but you get out." Her eyes teared up. She exhaled slowly, grabbing ahold of my left hand. "Remember me okay?"

I squeezed her hand, "Never, in a thousand days, could I forget someone like you Isla. You have made my life here worth it."

Isla wrapped her arms around my torso, hugging me close, I tried to make sure we weren't squishing Straatto. I held her tight in my own arms. Nothing bad will happen, I thought.

Pulling away I climbed out my window. Holding my arms out I caught Isla.

We made our way around the courtyards as quietly as we could. The ground was cold underneath our bare feet; we had taken our shoes off to create less noise.

I pulled out some rope, it had a hook attached to the end, if I swung high enough it would attach to the windowsill.

I tossed it up, it missed and clanged loudly to the ground. I held my breath, freezing. My heart was pounding, I slowly looked around, no one was around. I sighed quietly. I tried a few more times, catching it when it missed, and finally it hooked on.

Tugging I started climbing up. There was a gate to get out of the courtyard, but it was locked every night from the inside. 

Pulling myself to sit on the ledge I tide the end of the rope on a hook, it was more secure for Isla.

Helping her up we jump down into some bushes. It hurt. The branches tore at my skirt, ripping it in a few parts. I could feel blood running down my leg, it didn't matter, we had already started.

I looked beside me, making sure Isla could still walk. The closest outside gates were less than a mile away.

We continued our journey silently. A few guards walked about, most likely for a guard change.