The Broken Rules

Chapter 2: The Runaway Maid

           Darkness is the one thing many are afraid of, yet I couldn't help but welcome it every time it passed by. Who was that woman in my memory? Where does this memory come from and why now? I returned to reality and noticed that I was running down vast hallways with coldness engulfing me slowly as I reached an exit. I quickly remembered the incident. I turned around to check if I was being followed by any who wished to take me away and noticed Lincon was no longer by my side. I heard the clashing of swords and screams of men afar, hoping that Lincon would be alright. I knew he told me to run but I wanted to return to help him. As I stood in an open view at the end of the vast hallway I occupied, I heard guards shout out from outside:

-There she is! Catch her!

           I thought to myself, asking for forgiveness from Lincon as I took a decisive turn and ran outside in the opposite direction of the guards. I ran desperately, people looked in confusion, and some insults were heard as they were pushed aside to make way. The only way for me to get out of the castle walls and its city and to outrun everyone after me was by horse; however, the equestrian section was around 500 meters away from my current location. Quick decisions could either make me lose my life or save it. I took a risky tight turn, grabbed a cloak from the merchant's stand and headed for the horse stalls. As I approached and heard multiple screaming guards behind me, I looked frantically for a horse that wasn't mounted but prepared. I noticed a black stallion prepared and ready. I recognised him, he belonged to one of the knights who I had befriended. Sorry, Marcus... I sprinted towards him, mounted decisively, took one good look at the coming guards, took the reins and firmly gave the order to Pluto to start galloping. As I cantered towards the gates of the city leading outside, I heard frantic shouts from the gatekeepers ordering the closure of the gates. I probably wouldn't make it in time but I could not afford to stop, this couldn't be the end, I had to get out and remember my duties!

           Just as the gates were about to shut, Pluto accelerated and we passed in the nick of time. We hurried over the bridge and went straight into the roaring fields. I turned my face to see the castle and city I had lived in for a few years for the last time and let out a sobbing sound. I faced back the path I was taking, the one of a runaway maid. Surely a bounty would be set on my head and for a high price... The fields were dissipating as I was growing closer to the forest. We were already quite far, but I knew all too well that if I stopped or slowed Pluto down, the ones set out after me would inevitably catch me up and that was not an option I would take.

           The forest started to grow denser and the visible path started to vanish. I need to get off this path was what I had thought with what my mind was capable of conjuring after all the events. I momentarily stopped Pluto to give him a quick rest while I was thinking. I realised that these were the grounds I went around when I was picking medicinal herbs during my half-time studies as a healer for the Royal Family, this meant that nearby there were many hideouts and caves, especially one where a waterfall and Lily of the Valley bushes hid its entrance. I could hide there for the approaching night and let Pluto rest as we had already been on the run, cantering full speed for hours on loop... A whole day had passed in the blink of an eye. I took a left turn off the path and accelerated the pace as it would soon be sundown, I needed to hurry before the wolves came out. I thought I would have been spending my day at the castle tending to the Prince, not riding away and missing meals to avoid what should have been an inevitable death.

           I couldn't help but hope that Lincon was alright... Why did he have to waste his position and his potential life in Claribel for me! I was nothing but a worthless maid who served the Royal Family during my stay, and why was it that wherever I went, only chaos followed? First my family, then that woman in my vision and now a coming war in which Claribel was involved... All I brought so far was death and destruction, I was just a woman who had this high-status name yet was a maid being chased around by death itself... I did not deserve empathy, love or friendship, I should have died with my family and ended it all yet here I was, cowering in a cave in a land where a King surely wished to kill me.

           Anyway, I needed to rest, I believed or should say I knew that these few days or weeks to come would be harsh... I could not afford to die just yet, I needed to prevent this war, find that woman and keep my bloodline alive, whether I liked it or not.

           Darkness is the one thing many are afraid of, yet I couldn't help but welcome it every time it passed by. Who was that woman in my memory? Where does this memory come from and why now? I believed I would find out sooner or later or die trying and fight along with this darkness that had been at my side.