Dusk fell, and instead of being wrapped up in the cozy blankets she’d found herself in that morning, Maude was busy shredding them up instead. There were two sets of doors that opened in the room, and one of them had guards posted on the other side. This meant creating a rope.

When dinner had come, Maude had scarfed it down, finally feeling better from her conversation with the duke that morning. IT had taken ages for her appetite to come back, but when the maid had placed the food down in front of her, her mouth began to water.

She’d spent most of the day thinking about what he had said to her. Surely the emperor’s plan hadn’t been that far off...if she had helped...right? She still wasn’t sure of what to make of the duke’s words. As her enemy, it made more sense for him to lie to her than to tell her the truth. All she knew was that she wanted to have as little to do with him as possible.

There had been little else to do since she was a prisoner and wasn’t about to ask for any more favors. She’d practiced some of her sword stances and movements, though it had felt odd without a sword in her hand. She never really had the time for hobbies, so she’d spent an inordinate amount of time staring at the walls after she figured out her escape plan. The amount of waiting she did was enough for her to feel fidgety for a good part of the day. She’d paced, she’d napped. She’d memorized the pattern of the stones on the floor. She’d searched every inch of the room for a secret compartment or a secret entrance.

As soon as she saw the sun setting on the horizon, she’d begun tearing up the sheets and tying the strips together. She would need a very long rope in order to reach the ground.

Maude had considered repurposing one of the blankets as a cape to keep her warm, but she was concerned that the blankets being such a nice, crisp white would make her easier to spot in the moonlight as well. She considered herself lucky that her dress was dark, and decided that if she made it out of the manor, she’d figure out what to do from there. It didn’t seem impossible that someone might pity her and give her something warm to wear.

After what felt like hours of ripping the sheets and knotting the ends together, she’d finally finished.

Breathing a small sigh of relief, Maude walked out onto the balcony. She looked down below, and saw the two guards standing near the main path of the gardens, and facing towards the manor.

By sheer luck, earlier in the day, she’d seen the two guards get switched out. Changing positions caused enough of a ruckus that all four of the guards weren’t paying as close of attention to the manor. It was only a few minutes worth of time, but it would at least be enough to hopefully get to the ground and start running away before they spotted her makeshift rope.

The moon was high in the clear sky as Maude sat down on the cold stone of the balcony. She could just barely make out the two guards between two of the stone railing posts, but she only needed to see just enough to know if they were switching out or not. The less visible she was, the more likely they were to forget that she had come out onto the balcony in the first place.

The air was sharp, reminding Maude that winter was coming, and quickly. A shiver ran down her back as she sat and waited. Maybe it would have been better to risk having a cloak of some kind, she thought. She looked down at the long rope of bedsheets. It’s tolerable now, I guess.

The dress that she had been given was the perfect textile to keep her warm inside the manor, even in a room where the fireplace hadn’t been running. But outside, it just wasn’t quite enough to get by with.

A gentle breeze rattled the dying leaves on the trees. It was enough to make Maude start shivering. She started rubbing her hands together gently in hopes of creating at least a little bit of heat for herself.

It was futile. The wind kicked up again, stripping all of the heat away from Maude’s body. She started shivering violently.

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How am I going to survive if I make it out? She wondered to herself. She sighed, shaking her head at herself. I need to stay focused. I have to get out first. Either way, there’s a chance I won’t survive.

Suddenly, she saw movement between the balcony posts, where the guards were. She leaned forward to see a bit better. There were four guards. None of them were facing her direction.

She quickly stood up, grabbed the end of her blanket rope and tied a knot around the railing. Once secured, she threw the rest of the rope down. It fluttered nearly silently, and it was close enough to the ground for her to safely climb down.

Maude clambered up onto the stone railing, and then crouched, grabbing the rope’s edge tightly in her hands. She swung her legs over the edge, and pulled herself down quickly and carefully, until she was hanging from her hands.

For once, she was grateful that her father had trained her so hard. Going up and down ropes had always been one of her least favorite activities, but she never could have imagined that it would come in handy like this someday.

The ground below was made of loose stones, which was going to be hard to run on with her slippers. As she was climbing down, she looked around, looking for the best place to flee, but most of the areas around where her rope ended were open and allowed to easily spot someone who was trying to escape. It meant the best bet was for her to run towards the garden gazebo and greenhouse.

She lowered herself carefully onto the loose stones, thankful to feel the ground under her feet again. Her arms gently throbbed from the exertion, likely due to the lack of training she’d been doing over the course of the past two weeks.

She glanced over at the guards of the path. The new guards were finishing up their debrief with the guards they were replacing. I need to hurry, she thought.

She shuffled her way towards the bushes that lined the edge of the garden, attempting to kick up as few rocks as possible. Maude had just pushed her way through the bush lining when she heard someone call out, “Hey!”

They must have seen the rope, she thought, pausing her steps and squeezing her eyes shut. I need to hurry!

She stumbled her way through the garden, feeling her dress get pulled and tear as she crashed her way through a variety of different plant types. With the amount of noise she was making, it was only a matter of time before someone located her.

Maude heard more shouts as more people were likely being deployed to find the missing prisoner.

Maude found herself getting close to a path. Though she knew it was dangerous to try to go on the path, and that she was far more likely to get caught while going down it, she decided it was worth the risk. She’d made very little progress trying to cut across the actual garden.

Taking a deep breath, she noticed that the road in front of her diverged. One side went towards the gazebo and the center of the garden. The other went off to the side towards the greenhouse, and closer to the edge of the property. Maude chose the one towards the greenhouse.

If only my father had made me train in slippers, Maude thought as she struggled to run on the loose terrain. She lost her balance, and almost fell into the rocks, but managed to regain it in time.

She could hear the sound of boots hitting the loose rocks coming from several different directions now. She hoped that the guards would at least better muffle the sound of her own clumsy footsteps a bit.

Maude made it to the greenhouse. The road diverged again. One went further into the garden, and the other continued towards the perimeter of the estate. She continued towards the perimeter...

...only to run right past some guards by the greenhouse.

Shit, shit, shit! She thought, trying to run faster. Trying to move quicker only seemed to make the rocks slip more under her shoes.

“Hey!” she heard one of the guards call out. “Intruder!”

Not quite, she thought. Though shouting “intruder” would increase the likelihood of her getting caught, nonetheless.

Maude could see the branches of the trees on the other side of the tall stone fence that surrounded the manor. Just a little further, she thought. Just a little more!

200 yards.

175 yards.

150 yards.

Suddenly two patrolling soldiers turned the corner right in front of her.

“Hey!” one of the guards shouted at her. “You’re not supposed to be here!”

She tried everything she could to gain enough speed to slam through the two men. She slammed into one of them. Hard. It wasn’t enough to get through.

She fell backwards, hard onto the rocks, scraping both of her hands.

No! The fence line was less than 100 yards away! She’d almost made it!

“Not today, lady,” one of the guards said.

The guard raised his sword over her head. I will get out of here, she vowed to herself.

The guard slammed the hilt of his sword down onto the already swollen spot on the back of Maude’s head, and she passed out once more.