Getaway

If I had not frozen in place, we would still have a chance to escape this embarrassing situation. If I just had managed to move away from the princess fast enough, this wouldn't have happened. But what's done is done, and the three knights saw the feelings that we hold for each other, they saw how close were our lips... I wanted to finish it, at least, but not even that I could do it in my state of shock.

"I think you two must come with us...", one of the knights said. There was no more hope... At least there was no hope for me anymore, but I could still twist the truth, I could still save Isabelle's reputation and, therefore, her dreams as well. Slowly, I moved towards her ears and whispered a few words to her.

"I... I think you must scream princess... Struggle against me, blame me for this whole situation... They will think you were forced into this and your reputation will be saved...", I said to her... She seemed to be hesitant about doing this, and I understand why does she feel that way...

"Did you hear me? I said that you must come with us!", the knight shouted. There was no more time for hesitancy and, despite how much I hate to force people into something, I forced the princess into my plan.

"Forgive me, Isabelle...", I whispered and then I stomped on her feet.

Her scream of pain alarmed the guards who raised their weapons at me and I immediately turned to face and fight them with my trustworthy sword. Despite how she felt hesitant before, she did as I told her. She ran away from me, to the corner of the room, and raised her finger at me, forcing herself to show anger against me.

"Guards, seize this rapist at once!", she shouted loudly... But I could see the feeling of guiltiness in her eyes.

"It shall be done, your highness", the guards said, buying the lie we were selling and, in an act of respect, they bowed to the princess.

Although bowing is an important thing for a knight to do when orders are received, one should not, however, distract the self when your enemy is right in front of you. I took the opportunity they gave me, shoving one of the knights into the other two and then rushing to the door, making sure to get the key and lock the door from the other side. The knights tried to force it open, but it seemed like they were having trouble, luckily... But there was no time to stay here and laugh at their faces, my objective now should flee the palace and this city.

I rushed downstairs. Hopefully, if I was fast enough, I would be able to pass through the other knights when they are still unaware of what happened up there.

The sound of armor hitting against each of the stone steps of the stairwell of the towers repeated countless times... I needed to be careful not to fall while also making sure to go fast enough. Soon, for my unluckiness, however, I could hear the voice of someone shouting from high of this tower.

"Close the gates! Everblade has raped the princess!". It meant that it was a goodbye for my safe stealthy escape. I can't just stay complaining about it, however... If a plan fails, we just need to create another, adapt to the circumstances... I started to consider what I had and how I could escape this palace.

There are warriors on the main floor, they will probably try to seize the doors and windows before I can reach them... But if I am lucky enough, I should be able to escape without needing to fight anyone. The problem would be the walls of the palace and then the walls of the city around the palace. The gates will probably be closed already by the time I reach them, meaning my only option would be to climb the wall and then go down on the other side... That certainly wasn't easy and given the archers on top of the wall, it was pretty dangerous to attempt this. That's when I remembered the four towers of the wall... One of them has a secret passage. I was not supposed to know that, but I happened to see a high-rank knight and his majesty go through one... I know that spying is wrong, but it doesn't matter, what is important is that I had my escape route ready.

Reaching the main floor, I carefully opened the door of the tower that led to the main hall of the palace. Seeing that no one was in the main hall, I daringly attempted to go for the main doors, it would be an impressive way to escape the palace but just when I was getting close to it, a voice came from the other side... I hesitated a little but went to hide behind a pillar before the person entered the room.

"Hear me out, I want her dead or alive! Either will do just fine for me", it sounded like his majesty, the king, was the one speaking. It wasn't a surprise why he was feeling so angry, he just got to know that I raped his daughter after all.

After he had given the command, the sound an entire army echoed, the knights were going to probably seize the windows and doors. I needed to be faster, maybe I could still make it to one of the windows.

In the opportunity of distraction, I got in one of the secondary halls and proceeded to search for the window I wanted so much... Just when I turned around in a corner, however, I stumbled into a tall heavy knight, holding a heavy axe in his hands. He stared at me with a smug smile...

"You know... We should've suspected that this kind of thing would happen. You give power to a woman and disasters will happen", he opined. If I was the one being attacked by that offense of his, I would not be able to care any less... But... Somehow, for me, it sounded like he was speaking of someone else, of the princess. Was he saying that the princess could not lead the kingdom? That this would only bring problems? I knew who was princess Isabelle, she was far better than many of the men that were once on the throne of this kingdom. She would fight for her people at the side of her knights... She would search for the poor and prioritize the others instead of having feasts at the comfort of her palace. He had no right to say anything about her. My mouth stayed shut, however, I would not waste saliva with that nonsense.

"No words? You should speak, they might be your last words!", he shouted but instead of saying anything to him, I just tried to sweep kick him and take him down to the floor, but he was a heavy knight...

"That's cute. Let me show you how a real man attacks!", he shouted and raised his axe high, only to bring it down to cut me in a half. But I was not going to allow that, quickly I rolled to the side while still on the floor, making his axe stuck on the floor. Now it was my turn to smile... He attempted to take his axe off the floor but was unable to accomplish that. I hurried past him and looked back for just a second, saying a few words.

"You talk too much, you know that?", there was much more I wanted to say, but I couldn't lose time, it was now or never if I wanted to escape this palace, so I just rushed away from there and entered in the first room to my right, hoping there would be a window. There, from up high close to the ceiling, to close to the floor, there was a beautiful window with stained glass, it seemed to be a portrait of her majesty, the queen. There was no other way out, however, I would have to destroy this piece of art.

"I am sorry your majesty", I said and struck the window once with my sword, careful to make the pieces fall on the other side so they would not hurt me. Once I could pass through it, I jumped and ran to one of the towers of the wall... It was daring, I didn't know which tower was the one with the passage, but the sound of the glass breaking must have called the attention of the nearby knights, so I needed to get away from there the fastest I can...