I opened my eyes to see a dark canopy hanging above me. Looking to each side of me, I noticed that four, finely carved posts, holding up the canopy. The walls were deep red with beautiful crown woodworking. There is a small fire crackling in the ornate fireplace to my left with wall to ceiling windows lining the wall to my right. Through the partially opened curtains, I could see the surrounding rocky and grey mountains illuminated by the lunar light.

I threw the thick covers off of me and quickly got out of bed. Turning on my heel, I lifted the pillow top bed and reached under the wooden bed frame to retrieve the small kitchen knife that I tied to the underside of one of the panels. It was a silver meat knife, about the length of my forearm, with delicate designs on the handle and came to an intimidating point.

I had stolen the dinner knife one night at dinner with Kasrad by sneaking the knife into the bodice of the new dresses he had sent to me. The accompanying letter read: Wear it for me, my dear. ~K. Little did he know that the dress had enough fabric within its layers for me to be able to easily tuck the knife into the folds of my dress without him noticing.

When I replaced the pillow top to its rightful place, I felt a pull on my skin around my arm. I lifted my sleeve to itch the irritant spot and came across a bandage on my arm.

When did that get there?

I pulled down the sleeve, covering the bandage and walked across the room towards the door. My bare feet made no sound on the thickly carpeted floor. My cream-colored silk nightgown was thin enough that a shiver came over me as I neared the door. Was it nerves or the cool air? I couldn’t tell. The closer I got to the door, the tighter the knot in my stomach got. When I reached the door, I paused. Instead of opening it, I climbed on top of the dresser to the right of the door as quietly as possible. I made myself small on my perch and grabbed one of the dolls resting on top of the dresser with me.

The guards that I had come in contact with thus far during my time at Kasrad’s keep were very odd men. They followed each order given to them by Kasrad with a blind fervor, as if unable to focus on anything but the order or pleasing him. It’s not just the guards of the keep either. I saw it when we were waited on at dinner, or when we would walk the halls of the keep and his people would almost bow to him as he walked by. They idolized him. Unfortunately, that meant that the people within these walls are my enemy, at least in regards to achieving my goal.

Kasrad had the guard at my particular door changed with enough frequency that I could never remember their names or faces. I tried to interact with them at first but they would refuse to acknowledge me, instead only talking to Kasrad or another adult escorting me. Their orders were to protect me at all cost, which didn’t include speaking to me. Though they have never done anything outright towards me, being treated as invisible isn’t much better. I held onto that thought as I readied myself, holding the knife at the ready in one hand and the doll in the other.

Unfortunately, for this to work the guard had to go.

I paused a few moments, waiting. I didn’t hear anything outside and threw the doll at a vase across the room that tumbled to the ground. The sound of shattering glass was so stark in comparison to the silence of the night that the door guard came rushing into the room. As he entered, the guard quickly looked around the interior of the room, searching for the cause of the noise. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t look behind the door.

I jumped on top of him, catching him from behind, blade out. The small blade found its way into his neck. Blood went everywhere the instant my blade pierced through his neck. I covered his mouth with one hand as the other pushed the blade as deep as I could while wishing for him to die quickly and quietly. Instead, the guard flailed his arms frantically at his assassin. He reached for my arms around his neck and face. My hand covering his mouth and he let out a loud moan of pain. I pulled the knife out and brought it down as second time. His grip on my hand weakened instantly and he fell under the continued onslaught as he died.

I quickly got up from the ground and closed the door, hoping no one heard his moan of pain or our fall. I turned back to the dead guard, and a wave of nausea hit me. Stomach bile rose to my throat, but I suppressed the feeling. This wasn’t the time for a weak stomach. I walked back to the body and searched him, looking for his set of keys. After a few moments of fumbling around with the dead weight of the guard, I was able to unhook the keys from the guard’s belt.

Before leaving, I reached to remove the blade from his neck. As I pulled the knife free, the wound made a wet sucking noise. I wiped the blade on his sleeve and I looked at the guard’s face for a moment. “I’m sorry,” I said. Then, I rose from my crouch and walked towards the door.

Pressing my ear against the door’s frame, I listened to the corridor beyond before opening, hoping to hear anyone coming that might be responding to the commotion. I opened the door a crack, peering out into the halls checking again for anyone coming. When no one came, I entered the hall for the first time on my own in close to a season cycle. Turning around, I closed and locked the door and without further hesitation, I walked away from my prison cell.

Just get to the end of the hall.

As I turned the corner a robed figure stepped out of a previously empty doorframe. I turned to strike out, acting before I thought about who it could be. Thankfully the robed figure’s hand quickly halted its progression before I hurt the one person trying to help me.

“Easy there, Little One,” a feminine voice whispered.

The robed figure removed their hood; her bright red hair was momentarily visible before she put the hood back on. It was my most recent tutor, Sabine. She had been with me for close to half a cycle. My previous tutor was an older professor that Kasrad found to be too friendly towards me. It took a few lessons for me to understand that she was not like the other tutors that I had in the past, even back home. She was so much more.

She released my wrist when she saw recognition in my eyes “Look, then strike, understand?” she asked. I nodded. She turned around and closed the door to the room she had hidden in. But not before I could see a couple of limp bodies lying on the floor.

They heard.

“We have to go,” she said and motioned down the hall. With Sabine at my side, we hurried down the rest of the corridor and then turned down another. After a set of stairs, we entered into a corridor that I had never seen before. Which is one of the many reasons why I needed Sabine’s help to escape. Being kept in isolation made it so that I was only familiar with the areas of the keep that Kasrad wanted me to know. Otherwise, the rest of the keep was a complete mystery to me.

We walked to the door at the end of the corridor and stopped briefly. Sabine removed her robe and in one smooth motion covered me with the too big fabric and tied it around my neck. I looked down to see an intimidating sword strapped to her side. On her other hip, a dagger’s handle was sticking out towards me. Noting my momentary distraction, she lightly guided my chin so that I was looking back at her.

“There is a doorway on the other side of this guard post. It leads down to a cellar with a small door. It will open to a passageway out of the mountains. That is our way out,” Sabine paused to make sure that I grasped her directions, and then continued. “Whatever happens on the other side of this door, you need to keep moving. My friends are waiting on the other side and will take you to your Uncle” she whispered.

On instinct, I wrapped my arms around her, taking care of the knife I was still holding, and squeezed my rescuer, hoping the hug will convey my thanks. She enveloped me in her arms and hugged me tightly. After a moment she pulled back.

“Ready?” Sabine asked. I nodded, afraid my voice would crack from the fear I felt.

Without further ado, Sabine reached for my unarmed hand and opened the door out into an unfamiliar courtyard. There were a couple of guards sitting around a fire on the side of the courtyard, oblivious to our entrance.

I kept my head down but was continuously watching them out of the corner of my eye as we made our way across the courtyard. We were halfway to the door Sabine spoke of before one of the guards called out to us.

“Hey, you two!” The guard called out, moving away from the fire and towards us.

“You’re not supposed to be in here!” His companion added, following his friend in our direction.

“Keep walking,” Sabine whispered urgently under her breath. She squeezed my hand and then released it, turning to face the guards. “My apologies gentlemen,” Sabine said, her voice holding the sound of a smile. “I must have gotten turned around. We were looking for...”A horn was blown, interrupting her.

The guards we left behind must have been found.

I had just reached the door and turned back to Sabine. The guards in front of her instantly responded to the horn by instantly arming themselves, turning defensive towards the unknown entities in their sights.

“Come on!” I called out to her.

“No, go. I will follow,” she ordered, pulling her own blade out to confront the guards.

I paused, not wanting to go on without her. I saw the first guard charge and strike at her, but she easily blocked him. Gliding her blade up his own, she swiped at him in return, catching him in his midsection. With a yell of pain he fell to his knees, his Without a further thought to the dying guard, she turned towards the second, entering a defensive stance.

“Go,” she ordered a second time over her shoulder. Not wanting to go against her, I turned and entered the door and closed it behind me. As the door shut, another horn blast sounded, but this one was much closer. The second guard must have called in for reinforcements before challenging Sabine outright.

I turned and faced the cellar. It was a small room, with shelves on one side and wooden barrels on the other. In the center of the back wall was a door with an unlit sconce with a piece of flint dangling from a small cord. With the sound of swords clashing, I walked towards, the final door between freedom and me. Opening the door, I looked to see a declining passageway that led down into complete darkness.

After a few shaky strikes of the flint, I was finally able to light the sconce. The sconce was much heavier than I thought it was, but I managed to remove it from its mount on the wall. I walked into the passage and closed the door behind me and started to make my way down the declining stone passageway. I could only see what the sconce illuminated for me but I could feel the path slightly curving away from the keep. The further into the ground the passage went the colder it got rather quickly.

Suddenly, a cruel voice echoed off the walls of the stone passageway, seeming to come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. “Lady Bronwyn? Where are you going, my dear?” Kasrad called out mockingly. I stopped and frantically looked back and forth within the passage, the flames of the sconce roaring with each hasty movement, but Kasrad was nowhere to be seen.

Was he in my head?

“I was so enjoying our time together. Weren’t you?” He paused, almost sounding hurt at my departure. I kept moving down the passage, hoping to get away from his voice and influence.

“Perhaps when you are older you will understand,” he resigned. “So run, my dear, run and hide. There is no place you can go that I will not find you,” Kasrad challenged and an icy fear crept into my bones that had nothing to do with the coolness of the passageway.

“But always remember,” he chimed as if talking to a toddler before turning back to his anger. “Time is my true ally, dear wife and I will find you, even if it takes an eternity.”

Light started to pour into the passageway behind me. Is it the guards? Sabine? It didn’t matter; I had to keep moving. My pace quickened at the thought.

“But eternity is a long time, even for me. 1000 gold cogs to the person who brings me my wife,” Kasrad commanded and I could hear the cackles and hoots of encouragement from his faithful guards nearby, closing in on me. They were cheering on their master.

Kasrad’s voice called out one final time, almost as an afterthought, “Bring me her companion, dead or alive”

Knock-knock-knock.

The noise startled me out of my night terror.