Call Me Empress

"She had been called many things in her life: thief, vagabond, exile, outcast. Now she would be called Empress."

After being a thief for so long you would have thought that I was better at not being caught. Now I was stuck in a cell after a slightly-more-sober-than-I-thought nobleman caught me stealing his pouch of coins from his jacket pocket. He had called the guards and as good as I was at fighting, taking on several fully trained guards with weapons wasn't really in my favour.

What was in my favour was the pins I had in my hair. They hadn't thought to check under my hat for any weapons.

When new guards came to relieve those stationed around the cells there will be enough ruckus for me to pick the lock, and escape. Not to mention, it was dangerous when my hat was off, and pins were out of my hair, because whoever saw me would know that I was a girl. On the streets that was a dangerous thing for someone to know, so the more chaos the better.

I counted down the time until the guard change was supposed to be, having been in here way too many times. You would have thought they would know to put me in a cell underground this time, no matter how minor the crime.

When the guard changed they were rowdy and somewhat drunk, those who were relieving, and those being relieved looked so tired they were about to fall over. With the guards busy changing shifts and inebriated, I quickly took off my hat and started to work the pins out of my hair, making it fall loosely down to my shoulders. It was easier to keep it short.

I picked two pins out of my palm that I thought would fit, shoving the rest into my pocket along with my hat. I bent one of them to create a crude set of lock picks. From there I reached through the bars as silently as I could, keeping an eye on the guards as I started to awkwardly pick the locks. It was hard to get it to unlock quickly enough, but just as the replaced guards were all setting up at their posts and the conversation was dwindling between the tired guards and the drunk guards, I felt the lock unlock.

The guards were still distracted as I slipped out of the cell as quickly as I could and started climbing the wall that led into the palace courtyard. They noticed me just as I had gotten to the top of the wall.

I smirked down at the guards trying to climb up after me before I started down the other side of the wall, the other guards rushing to organize themselves for a breakout. Once I reached the ground I ran into the palace, hurriedly making my way inside, heading to the closest entrance. I had to get out as soon as possible before people put two and two together about my long hair or saw my face for too long.

As I was nearing the entrance I turned my head distractedly at a loud noise behind me, only to run into someone. I kept my balance, but the person I ran into fell from the momentum. By the time my eyes had caught up with my body, I was staring into wide, bright blue eyes looking up at me.

Before my brain could process who, exactly, this person was, I was running. I ran towards a window at the end of the hall that faced out towards the wall that separated the palace and the city.

The window had already been open so I vaulted through the window, not bothering to look behind me, but registering the sound of feet running after me.

I was already heading towards the wall around the palace before the person had even gotten to their feet. The gate was a few lengths to my left but going through it as an escaped criminal was a sure way to get caught. So my best option was to scale the wall. I had been caught a few other times, and each time I escaped unscathed. Which really reflected on the people running this place.

The guards intercepted me at the top of the wall, swords unsheathed and stances ready. Instead of running towards them to attack, I evaded and hopped over the side of the wall. I caught onto a handhold and slammed myself against the wall. Simultaneous to jumping over the edge, I made the torches on the wall flare brightly enough to distract as I basically slid down the wall. Luckily the gloves I regularly wore protected me from most rough materials. What can I say, I was a climber.