Chapter 9: Escapism

This is it. I decided to perform my plan.

It might go well, it might go bad, and there's no one to save me at all. But instead of just waiting here for a miracle which is really an impossible thing, I might do all of it myself.

The normal life that I've been longing for is nowhere to be found. If I can escape this castle, I'll become a runaway cursed child.

I heard footsteps coming from outside, so I walked between one of the corners, hiding in the darkness itself, wearing only my camisole and shorts while holding my book. My sweat dripped and my heart started to beat faster, didn't know if this plan would be successful. I tried to be silent as possible

"It's time for dinner, miss." The man said, which I assumed was the knight that had been guarding me. I gulped as I could hear his voice.

I can hear the clinging noise of the iron bars as they were being opened, and the footsteps are becoming nearer until I could see the knight himself inside the cell, carrying a tray of a meal.

But he wasn't approaching me at all, instead, he's approaching the object on the other side of the cell, the situation favouring on my side. This signalled me to tiptoe towards his back.

"Miss?" He tried to ask the lifeless object as he kneeled down, dropping the meal on the ground, never actually know that I was actually behind him. He touched it by the shoulders but to no use. Until he finally realized that it wasn't a person at all. I grabbed this chance.

I raised my book and smacked the back of his head with great force, didn't hesitate to do it.

"Ackk!"

The knight reacted as he didn't expect the blow that I made, and later on, fell into a deep sleep. I kneeled down to see his face, then reached for his nose, trying to check if he's still breathing. After finding out that he's still alive, I sighed in relief.

That object he saw was actually a dummy; it was my bag and the sleeping mat wearing my whole dress along with the apron as I put it in the correct angle so that it will be mistaken by a real person. And as it blended with the darkness of the cell, he can only see the silhouette.

I just did the same thing which that one knight did to me in the throne room, where he smacked me behind my head to lose my consciousness. I thought it would kill the knight, but thankfully, he was still alive and breathing. Since I just learned it in just that one experience, I'm not really sure if it worked.

So I didn't waste time and started grabbing all of my things, putting my dress and apron on. I approached the open cell and looked at the lying knight once more, feeling an ache in my heart.

"I'm sorry," I whispered and moved forward. All I have to do right now was to escape from this castle and go back to my brother.

I finally went out of the cell that I've been staying this whole time and decided to look around what is outside of it. A long and old corridor, filled with cracks and mosses on the walls, and a large metal door on one end of it, telling me that it was the only way out of here. I can see other cell rooms in every wall, including mine.

Realizing that the door was actually locked, I was about to go back to the cell to check the knight's pockets for any keys that could open it when suddenly, an explosion caught my attention.

I turned my head around to see the door, now damaged and fell on the ground, making smoke dust everywhere. The smoke finally disappeared and my eyes widened as I can finally see something.

"Meria!" He shouted as he saw me standing in the middle of the corridor. Tears started to fall from my eyes, but I stopped it. This isn't the time to be so emotional.

"Farin?! What are you doing here?" I asked. As far as I know, like me, he never got inside the castle, so he doesn't know what are the obstacles facing him, let alone the knights that are lurking anywhere.

"There's not much time! We have to get out of here!" He shouted and grabbed my hand while I'm still surprised.

As we ran outside the cell, I saw a group of knights lying on the ground, unconscious. I raised my eyebrow.

"Tell me…" I asked, curious about them. I didn't expect my brother to be that of a fighter since he never won a fight against other kids before. "…do you know how to fight?"

"Nope." He answered immediately and gave me a wide smirk. " I just bought a magic orb."

"Wait. A hostile one? But that's illegal." I said. Just like that tyrant noble earlier, hostile magic orbs are illegal to use inside and outside the capital, and only the knights and soldiers are allowed to use it during conflicts and wars. How did he get those? Is he engaging with black markets? It looks like he's been hiding a lot to me.

"Do you think that's even necessary right now? We're literally escaping from the government." He said, his smile disappeared. Come to think of it, getting out of the prison and escaping from other knights are illegal doings too, so I guess using hostile orbs aren't that much of a deal.

"Right," I said.

We passed through dark long corridors, filled with torches on each side of the walls, giving us a few lights. We also climbed narrow stairs of black, but that didn't bother us in reaching out from the basement.

After minutes of running, we finally made it to the ground floor, greeted by another corridor. The marble floors followed the same palette like the ones inside the throne room, as well as the glass windows' arch and height, keeping the red gold-trimmed curtains from blocking the moonlight outside.

Candles are attached in every part of the walls, and smaller crystallized chandeliers are hanging on the ceiling. Various paintings and artworks were displayed on the walls and a nice collection of vases with plants on them was standing still on the sides.

As we sneaked through the corridors, three knights showed up in our way. At first, they didn't saw us, until they turned around in our direction.

"What?! Get him! He's taking her!" One of them yelled as they grabbed their swords from their sheaths. I stepped backwards, my heart started to beat faster. Compared to them, we don't have anything, just a strong faith that we will get out alive.

"Tsk. It seems I don't have a choice." My brother muttered and grabbed something in his pockets.

In his hand was a magic orb as red as ruby that even shone more under the moonlight. After staring at it, I finally recognized the red orb. He's not joking… he really brought those orbs.

"Apollus." He whispered under his breath. Then, glowing red light emerged from the orb as it started to crack, just like what happened to the green one.

Before it will activate the magic, he threw it towards the opponents in front of us, causing them to go in panic. Then, a wide explosion was released, causing them to be thrown away into the walls and windows, giving it some small cracks and the window to be broken. The floor was burned down, its beauty can be seen no more. The chandelier and other furniture were still intact, but unfortunately, some of the vases fell into dismay.

"Now's our chance!" Farin said and started to run, as I followed him from behind. Even though we defeated them, I'm still confused.

I'm happy that my brother was here, with me, saving me from the hands of the evil king, but I didn't expect that we would be hostile just to get through them. I didn't know that this would it take just to run away from here. Seeing those weapons they have, doing unacceptable things such as exploding them and smacking them with a book, I started to feel fear of this life. Why does it have to be like this?

We finally made it outside, with the moonlight hitting our skin, crickets can now be heard from afar.

I finally stepped on the green grass with a mixture of stone bricks and pebbles that I haven't touched for a while. On our right was a gigantic wall that's been separating us from outside, and on the other side was the wall of the castle itself, showing up tall and short glass windows.

The slate roofs denied the palette of everyone else and went for a mixture of red and peach, as well as the flags in each of them, carrying the kingdom crest.

I have been running all the time and I started to run out of air, but somehow, I didn't want to stop. I don't want to be killed.

The gates of the castle can finally be seen, guarded by guards. When they saw us coming from their direction, they readied their lances, trying to stop us from passing through them. Farin stopped in his tracks, unsure of what to do right now. I also stopped from running, staring at the knights who were about to strike us.

"Seize them!"

I heard in my back. I turned my head around to see a group of knights with their swords and spears, wearing their battle armour and helmet, as they charged towards us with berserk. They were also carrying red magic orbs along with their arrows. I couldn't help but feel my body shivered. Tears started to fall from my eyes.

I really don't want any of this. I don't want to die. I want them to get out of my sight without those deadly arms they were carrying.

As I feel fear, suddenly, an intense pain filled my chest, causing me to stop and grasped for it. Just like before, it didn't last that long and stopped for just a split second.

But next to that was a huge amount of pressure coming out of my body, causing for everything around me to be pushed and thrown away. The knights that attempted to attack us flew, along with their weapons, while some fell on the ground, making the gate in front of us open. Farin also got pushed, but he didn't let it bother him and immediately stood up.

"Why did you do that?!" He asked me, filled with irritation.

"I-I don't know… It just came out." I excused since it was actually the truth.

"Whatever. Let's go!" He grabbed my hand to let us passed through the gates and out of the castle.