Chapter 12: Escape
Although, Evanna had relaxed in the bath before bed, it did not keep her nerves at bay. That night, she did not sleep well, tossing and turning a lot, restless and consumed with her thoughts. There were only a few hours left until she was to get up and go, she knew the time that she was going would be perfect, no one would be awake except for the guards patrolling outside.
A few restless hours later, the princess opened her eyes wide awake as though she had slept perfectly well, she knew however that this was a lie, and she would feel very tired later in the day. With the dim light that came through from her glass door at the balcony, she could see the outlines of her golden pocket watch that she left on her bedside table. Reaching her hand out, she grabbed the watch to check the time to see that it was an hour before she was meant to be up.
Instead of going back to sleep she sat herself up against the headboard of the bed, if she went back to sleep, she knew it would not be peaceful. The light coming through the glass must have been from the last of the moonlight, she thought. With one last look around her dark room, she got out of bed and went to her desk where she left the items her mother brought her.
Before opening the boxes, she pulled her nightgown off, sighing at the thought of how much comfier it was to sleep in than what she would be wearing from this morning onwards. Standing naked in the dark, she opened the first box and brought out the Dracosbain shirt. Once she put it over head and removed her hair from underneath it, the shirt clung to her body like a second skin, with no air able to go underneath it. It was not painful and she felt like she was still wearing nothing.
After that she put on her black breeches, tied her two daggers against the bottom of her legs and put her boots on over the top to cover them. She put on her normal black shirt, tucking it into her breaches before putting the bluish leather top on over the shirt. It was not a corset, but she still had a small leather thread going down the side to pull on, which tightened the fit, looking in the mirror she saw that the top covered her chest, she undone the top two buttons of her shirt underneath which revealed her necklace slightly.
Once she finished with the shirt, she noticed her hair was still flowing out down messily to her waist, she quickly pulled it back into a plait and tied it with a string. Happy with her outfit she placed her swords on her back along with her new dagger which she placed in its sheath behind her back at the top of her bottom. At last, she could put her navy cloak on top, where she tied the three toggles together at the top of her chest, which made it cover most of what she wore. Lastly, she put a pair of black leather type gloves on, which she knew she would need to keep her soft hands from forming calluses, if she were indeed needed to use her swords a lot.
Before leaving she made sure that the letter, she had written for the king was left on her now made bed, she then placed her hood over her head after grabbing her bag and slinging it behind her. The bag held multiple items she knew she needed, along with the leather tube with the parchments in, an elvish book that held information about Direwood forest in, food and water supplies, a spare shirt and of course a lot of gold coins.
Evanna opened the door slowly and looked outside, making sure her surroundings were clear before creeping out of her room and closing the door silently. She started to make her way down the hallway, stopping again and double checking there were no guards, she calmed her racing heart and continued her silent slow steps. There were a few instances where she stopped and hid behind walls as a guard would walk past, but the closer she was getting to the servant’s quarters, the quicker her steps were becoming, the anticipation tightening her neck muscles.
As soon as she was near the servant’s quarters, she heard the sound of metal clanking against each other, it was armour. Her body tensed as adrenaline rushed through her, the noise was coming from her right and on looking over, there was nobody there yet. She swiftly tiptoed across the hall to the nearest curtain and hid, making sure her feet and body were covered.
Evanna held her breath as the guard came closer, her body tensed again as he walked past her, she waited until the noise of his armour subsided, then pulled the curtain back and took a few steps before opening the door to the servant’s quarters. Closing the door behind her, she carefully took the steps downwards in the darkened staircase, careful of her foot placement. Once she cleared the small obstacle she calmed down and walked to her normal spot, the open area where the barrels were, she grabbed her normal dirty cloak and put it on, placing the nicer one in her bag.
"Princess"