Chapter 13

On opening the door, Silver had walked to the end of the room hiding behind the makeshift dressing room where Shinja could not go uninvited. When she called out to him so he could come and eat, he pretended not to hear a thing she was saying.

"Don't you like the food I brought you? But you have not checked what it is at all. Or are you not hungry?" she cried out pensively.

He walked out from where he was hiding and plopped onto the bed casually as though nothing had happened.

"Come here and I will tell you the reason princess!" he said his voice on a low vibrato that caused shivers down her spine. What was he doing to her? She moved two steps close towards one his bed post that was closest to the exit.

"My prince if you don't mind, I would like you to tell me the reason from where I am. Thank you." The prince remembered that Shinja had asked him to respect her. He stood up swiftly and said to her.

"Please Shinja tell me and don't turn me down any longer. Do you love me?"

"No, I mean, yes," she slapped her face with the front of her palm. "Heavens! I don't know my prince. I don't know what you want from me. I would say yes definitely but... but..." she stammered.

"But what princess...?" Silver asked curiously. Could be there was hope after all.

It was happening way too fast for her to come up with something. So, instead of answering, she gathered up her skirts and dashed out of Silver's room very fast.

When she entered her room, a crazy idea got into her mind. Each time she felt confused and overwhelmed, she went to her grandmother's place, the Secret Garden. Right now she felt exactly that; confused and overwhelmed, she needed an outlet. She wanted to be away from Silver, from all of this. There was a lot of pressure that her frail heart could not handle at once.

She would go to the stables first but before that she went to her closet, picked out a black coat and veil. If she was to successfully disappear from the palace, she needed something that would disguise her from recognition of curious eyes.

Passing through one of the secret passage ways in the castle and she headed swiftly to the stables. The servants were distracted with their evening chores when she tiptoed out of her room. Heading to the sitting room, by the fireplace which was unignited and dark, she picked up the poker. This had been one of her grandmother's favorite places, she had used the place to relax, talk to their grandfather, Bingy-White. It had not only been that but she also used the passageways that lay behind the fireplace. Shinja had been able to discover those by herself.

She looked behind her back to see if anyone had followed her. She had discovered the passageways on her own as a child. She would hide herself in their if her sisters refused to give her quiet time when she needed to read. Picking up the poker from the vase that sat in the left hand corner of the fireplace, behind her mother's portrait lay the brick she had to push in order to get to the other side.

Her mother's portrait was heavy as she dragged it away from the spot. When she was a child, it had not been in that place in particular. It had been a few handspans away from the brick that acted as a key to the secret passageways. Her father had moved the portrait only recently when his heart had grown heavier with missing Evalene, their mother. The feeling had intensified days towards the celebrations of the Elixir of Life. Shinja guessed that it had something to do with the burdensome conditions and decisions that followed the celebrations. She shook her head to stop the distracting thoughts, this was not the time for such. She would come back to them, right now she much needed her peace of mind.

She dragged the portrait away from its place nearly failing but that was not an option, not today. Pushing at the brick with the poker, the wall started moving. She held the the brown satchel tightly to her side with her unoccupied hand to keep the contents therein from falling out. The wall finally gave way. Squeezing herself in, she watched after it as it came back to order then she ran down the old crooked passageway. As if second guessing her actions, she halted immediately and thought to herself.

If I go to the stables, the horses will make noise, I cannot walk on foot because it will take me many days to reach grandma's home. I need my horse, Flower-bender for the journey I am about to take. I may even die of hunger on the way there.

Still thinking, she got out the charm book opened to a certain page. On this page were instructions on which words to use when controlling nature. She tried to master the words on the page then looked skyward thanking Terese for gifting it to her. It came in handy more times than one.

Except for the squeaking rats, grunting horses, the stables were as silent as a graveyard. She practiced the finger-hand movements and words she was going to use to quieten her horse. Her horse, Flower-bender was in its own stable, secluded from the rest. It made her task of taking her horse out less laborious.

Shinja put the book back into her satchel and went over to where the horses were kept in their stable. She then removed the bars that kept Flower-bender from escaping and whispered the words she had discovered inside the charm book.

"Horse of Green kingdom, abrachedusia... hoofless, no hoof shine *7." She chanted away seven times then all went silent including the rats, crickets and other small creatures that roamed the night. She then ordered her horse in particular.

"Flower bender, come out to me lets go."

The horse came out, without a single neigh or hoof sound. She went through a cave instead of the main gate. The cave was beneath the castle and led her straight through the Green lake.