The Rider's Daughter

Chapter 12

The castle was quiet, too quiet. Selena was wearing her peasant outfit and peeked out of her bedroom door looking down the hall to see if anyone was there. Seeing no one, she closed the door quietly and crept softly towards her balcony. She looked around searching to the guards, but saw none. Selena wondered where they could be, but thought twice before she lingered too long. She stretched her arms towards the tree that was near her balcony. It was farther than she expected and really strained to catch a limb. Being cautious, she climbed down the tree. The feat wasn't easy, sticks and leaves hit her on the way down and snagged her dress. When she finally touched ground, she had to tug leaves and sticks out of her hair.

Selena looked around again before heading to a garden nearby. In a bush, she hid her pack of supplies. She figured it would have been hard carrying down the tree with her, so she hid it beforehand to pick up later. With the pack on her back, she started towards the castle gate. Her plan was to climb the gate that was hidden by a large tree. That way if a guard walked by, all she had to do was stand still and have him walk by without him seeing her climbing.

The gate was high, but she was determined. In the distance, she heard the sound of crickets. She was relieved and started her climb. Her first step was painful as she slipped and skinned her knee. Grinding her teeth, she attempted the gate again. This time she didn't slip. She took another step, then another, and another. She was near the top now, but before she could take another step that would allow her to see over the gate, she heard voices.

Selena's heart pounded, it was no guard she heard, but her father. He was walking with Charles in the garden. Instead of simply walking by, they sat down on a bench. The blood in Selena's body coursed through her veins. She knew she couldn't just stay there holding on to a gate, her arms were tired and the blood on her wounded knee trickled down her leg. She was going over a plan in her head, and hoped that is would work. She let go of the gate with one hand and reached into her pocket. She grabbed a coin and threw it. The coin hit a water fountain, making a metallic sound. She heard her father mention a noise and stood up. He headed towards the sound, away from Selena. This was her chance to jump over the gate without being seen or heard. She took the next step, and jumped over. After, she quickly looked around, and ran.

The bright lights of town where in front of her casting a luminous glow in the horizon. Selena ran for her life, for freedom. She was unsure where to go once she was in town, all she knew was that she was free from the castle walls.

Selena stopped to breathe. She ran the entire way and was exhausted. After a few minutes, she began to walk around, observing her surroundings. She decided to pick up some food and stay a night at an inn. She needed her sleep because she had another long day ahead of her. She saw a sign for an inn and walked towards it. Even though it was late, there were still others who were out enjoying the cool night air. The crescent moon shone brightly down on the town, but the stars were hard to see from all the light.

She walked into the inn and looked around. A fire lit up the dining area where boisterous men drank their beer and ate sloppily. Most of the women she saw were the bar tenders. There were no children. Selena decided that the inn would do for the night and headed for the counter where the innkeeper stood.

"What can I do fer ya?" he asked.

"I just need a room for the night."

"That will be 2 gold coins then," the innkeeper said, a little sly.

"That seems rather high for just one night. What do you say for 4 silver coins?" Selena tried to bargain with the man. She might have never been on her own before, but she knew that 2 gold coins were too much.

"Two gold coins, no exceptions." He held out his dirty hand.

"In that case, I will seek out another inn and give them my money seeing as you are overpriced. Goodnight." She started to leave.