Escaping the enemy palace

"Don't let her get away!" A voice resounded inside the castle followed by the footsteps of numerous guards rushing towards the basement where the secret passages were present.

They ran through the dimly lit corridors of the castle basement to get their hands on the spy who the queen had just found out about. But the girl was faster and wittier than them and had rushed out quickly from her room in disguise. The servant's clothes she had prepared for such an occasion came in handy as she dressed up in a man's poor clothing to outrun the guards. The girl had successfully entered one of the secret passages and the palace guards split up to find the spy from another kingdom.

One of the guards spotted a silhouette on the other side of the corridor, "There she is! Raygan Castiel, surrender yourself or you will stand on the scaffold tomorrow."

"I am fated to the scaffold any which way," Raygan snickered as her feet kept sprinting through the well-memorised escape route, "I'd rather try escaping than surrender." Raygan's voice echoed through the walls as she took yet another turn through the secret passage.

The head of the guards following her grunted at others following him, "Are there chains on your feet? Move faster, go get her!"

On command, two of the fastest guards ran ahead with the metal of their armour clinging at every footstep. Raygan briefly turned back to see the oncoming danger and cursed under her breath. She was not ready to take two fully armoured guards at once.

Truth be told, she hadn't trained that well in combat with power as she was with agility.

The girl was running currently at the best of her strength, with her stamina going hand in hand with her speed. One of the guards almost caught up to her and swung his sword right in the line of her neck. As if on instinct, she ducked down and swept her leg across the floor in such a way that the guard stumbled on it, having a great fall. The metal on his body clung to the ground as he thudded with his face first.

Raygan did not bother and jumped from over him to run away further. Her feet picked up the pace again as she heard another voice from behind her, "Surrender yourself and your life might be spared."

She doubted that would be the case, seeing how the previous weapon had swung at her.

Raygan did internally laughed as she ran with everything inside her to the end of the dark corridor. There was a circular opening in the ceiling, from where the moonlight flooded into the small section of the corridor. That's it, she thought in her mind. All she had to do was climb the rusted ladder faster than the soldiers approaching her. Her breath was getting more and more laboured as her throat became dry land.

"Raygan Castiel!" Came the voice of the royal guard, "Stop right there!"

They wondered how she knew the secret passages around here so well. Little did they know that was the first thing she had studied when she had set her foot in this castle.

It had been a year that Raygan was assigned to the enemy castle to spy. There was a great ongoing war between the two kingdoms, which she did not care about. As a child, she had lost her parents and had to work as a beggar for some time until an elder man took pity on her and brought the malnourished girl to his house. It was later turned into a training school by the elder man's son, and Raygan was treated like the youngest daughter of the family, with everyone doting on her.

She was bestowed the legendary last name Castiel as a part of that family when the oldest son of that family joined the army and went on to become the general commander of the northern kingdom.

It was a happy family, and every day Raygan spent there, she worked hard to keep the rising glory of the Castiels.

But that joy did not last a long time as the war between the kingdoms swallowed her new family as well. The northern king overlooked her grief and, being the only Castiel left in the northern kingdom, sent her to the enemy nation for espionage. The journey took her only a few months to reach as the personal maid for the king in the enemy nation. Raygan stood worthy of the Castiel name for one whole year until her communicating owl was caught by one of the other maids working here.

Raygan did not lose even a second before she changed into her disguise when the maid had gone to complain about her.

The next thing Raygan knew, was blending in with the servants until she reached the underground passages. The news about Raygan being the spy engulfed the entire castle. Without any delay, the queen dispatched guards behind Raygan in absence of the king.

Right now, Raygan ran with everything inside her to the end of one long and dark corridor. Her shoes made a padded sound against the floor, unlike how the guards ran behind her announcing their presence.

The other guard who was behind her also caught up to her as her speed slowed down approaching the ladder.

"Got you," the guard beamed, as his hand landed on her shoulder to make her turn around. Unfortunately for him, he was yet to unsheathe his sword. Raygan did not resist his hold. Rather, she turned around with his pull. Her braided white hair had loosened out near her forehead and stuck over her temple. Her chest heaved up and down as she stared at the guard for a mere second before realising he was not guarded.

He had used his right hand to turn her around, and it would be uncomfortable to grab his sword with his left hand.

Raygan did that for him as she quickly grabbed the sword and pulled it out of the scabbard. Without losing a second, she saw the space where the helmet protection separated from the body armour and pushed the sword through it. "Got you," she returned his words back to him in a dry voice.

The guard coughed up blood, and it all spilt over Raygan's hand. She turned around and grabbed the ladder, starting to climb it rapidly.

"Wait there!" The other guards following her screamed, but Raygan was on the move and there was no stopping her now. She had to get out of here and find a safe hiding place. As she climbed, the royal guard almost got closer to her even with the heavy armour he had on him. He climbed the ladder behind her and caught hold of her leg.

Raygan's leg slipped from the ladder as a chill rushed down her spine. She kicked and jerked her leg in the air aimlessly.

One of the kicks hit the royal guard's helmet, and it fell down behind him. The very next kick landed on his nose and his scream resounded the corridors, "Aarrgghh!" His one hand held onto the ladder while the other, which had caught Raygan's leg, had to let go to aid his bleeding nose.

Raygan grabbed the opportunity and climbed the ladder till she emerged in the middle of the grassy field away from the enemy palace where she was spying.

Her feet picked up the pace again towards the dark thicket of the forest. All she hoped was her outfit to not give her away, as the male servant's outfit that she was wearing had a white t-shirt. Right when she was about to enter the forest, an arrow came straight at her from behind. Though her senses tingled at the sound of it cutting through the air, Raygan turned around to get out of the way, but it was already too late.

She pulled a sharp breath as her body stiffened. The arrow swooshed through the air and hit Raygan on the right of her abdomen, piercing through her flesh. She cursed under her breath at the fate that she might have to embrace here.

This was the last way she wanted to die. Though there was no family waiting for her back in her kingdom, this was not the place where she was going to die.