the princess & the beasts

escape.

The princess burst from her throne, shoving past a handful of guards, who had previously come to surround her and the Queen defensively. She grabbed the hem of her violet gown, quickly rushing out of the main room and up the carpeted stairs, into her royal chambers - which had already been prepared for an escape from the prior nights.

Once inside, she dismissed the door, confident that nobody had followed her, and clumsily pulled most of the gown away from her figure, revealing a white petticoat that had been messily cut short, as to avoid stumbling when fleeing.

Grabbing her old black cloak and a small satchel with some rations, Vie dashed to her open window, leaping without a second thought. Reaching out blindly, she grabbed onto a branch from a large, blossoming tree that had been growing in the garden outside her quarters. She yelped as she clung desperately to the large branch, risking messing up her makeup and fancily-tied short hair.

A squirrel was her downfall. Quite literally.

The second that little black nose brushed against her fingers, Vie let out a short yelp and instinctively released the branch, falling straight into some berry bushes below. She sat there for a second, before flailing, then tumbling ungracefully out of the shrubbery. She then spat out some leaves, tugged the hood of her cloak back on, rearranged her satchel, and jumped to her feet, running out of the garden and onto the courtyard.

The last thing she heard clearly among the screaming and panicking of the citizens was the cavalry captain screaming her name from the front doors.

Rushing to the peasant villages, and promptly ignoring her old friend, she found an unattended draft horse among the chaos; a tall, young Ardennes stallion, who was trotting around anxiously. Hurriedly, looking about, the princess took up the reins around its head, speaking soothingly to the stallion.

"Hush now, hush -" she whispered, slowly walking around to the side, where the saddle lay, "- I am not here to hurt you, hush.."

As she continued to speak to the stallion, she promptly jumped up onto the saddle, earning a small startle from the draft horse. Vie made a small noise of victory, something reminiscent of a, "wua-HA!" sound, before promptly directing the stallion to the city gates - which were being worked upon to expand the borders of the kingdom.

Dodging some smaller dragons and even a few forest spirits, the princess promptly bolted straight out of the city and into the foreign nature beyond.

She was free.

The tale goes that the princess traveled with that draft horse for days on end, until she could no longer see the palace, deep in that mystical wood. And there she stayed, for years, abandoning her kingdom and her power, all for the sake of freedom.