Old Religion

Chapter 1

Max

I paced my bedroom floor, my thoughts consuming me. The air felt dense, constricting my chest, making it difficult to breathe, to move, to think. My brow was dotted with perspiration, my hands anxiously clutching and releasing, a knotted feeling in my stomach. I was suffocating, the walls seemed to close around me, desperation clouded my mind, and I could no longer stand it.

I had another discussion with father just after dinner, he wants me to lead tomorrow's council meeting.

It's time for you to grow up. You are neglecting your duties. Start acting like a man. At your age I already ruled the country alone. Such a disappointment.

I hated my consciousness at the moment.

He wanted to test me, I knew it. He expected me to know all the facts, to have a plan for every situation, to address everything how he would have done, to never make mistakes, waver or ask for council. To dictate, impose and mandate. You never learn anything. Weak.

Talking to him always left me riled up. He treated me like a child and then expected me to act like a man. Never letting me make any decisions. Undermining me every opportunity he had. I never did well enough.

The urgency to get out built to intolerable levels. I had snuck out before. When I could no longer put up with the politics, responsibilities and pressures, I escaped into the city. The quiet nights and empty streets gave me a much needed peace. A breath away of the overpowering sense of oppression inside these walls.

Shuffling through my closet I pulled out a tightly wrapped bundle of old clothes I had secretly purchased on one of my runs into town. Peeling my now sweat-drenched dinner garments, I threw on the coarse shirt and pants and shoved my feet into my old riding boots.

I quietly opened the door. Halfway down the hallway I heard a ruffling noise. It came from the end of the hall near the royal chamber. Pulling out a dagger from my boot I made my way towards the noise. My heart started to beat faster, my dagger hand prickled with anticipation, ready for a fight with who ever dared intrude.

A hand came out of the shadows and caught my arm pulling me into a dimly lit door frame. In a second, my attacker had my dagger to my throat and a hand over my mouth. I was going to knock the lights out of whoever tried to attack me, but I stopped mid swing when confronted with a young girl holding me hostage. A girl?

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" she exclaimed, her voice just above a whisper.

Completely at a loss of words I just stared at her. As we stood there completely still, I got the opportunity to really look at her. She was not too short, but not too tall, the hallway candlelight was enough to distinguish her slightly wavy golden brown hair, it fell a little bit past her slender shoulders. Hard dissimilar brown eyes with heavy eyelashes stared back at me, full lips in a smirk. Why did she look so smug? She had a round nose and fair skin with a modest tan. Her ill-fitting all black men's clothes a stark contrast to her pretty demeanor.

"I asked you a question!" she whispered, but before I could respond she took one last look around the hallway, and pulled me along towards the servant's staircase. Soundlessly opening the door, she stuffed me through and closed it behind us. Snap out of it!

"I think we are safe here," she whispered anxiously.

"What are you doing?" I questioned, perplexed, uncertain and a little bit annoyed. Is she for real?

"Trying not to get sentenced to death, because of you," she sarcastically replied. "You know, for a thief you are utterly untalented. You walk like you own the place. What were you thinking, sneaking into the palace?" A thief? She did not know, she did not know who I was.

"I could ask you the same question," I shot back. At this, she stared back at me with her uneven eyes, one brown golden speckled and the other plain dark brown. Through the dimly illuminated stairway I could see the anxiousness in her features, the nervous twitching of her hands. Who was she? What was she doing in the castle's upper levels? If she was a servant why had I never seen her before? All these questions jumbled in my mind.

"I can't tell you," she whispered, "but word of advice, get out of here before things get out of hand. This is no place for newbies like you to prove their skills. The only thing you are going to accomplish, is get yourself thrown into the dungeons or killed."

There was a noise from behind the door, accompanied by heavy footsteps coming our way, probably one of the guards doing his rounds. My heart flared, this was not good. Panic rushed through her features, she pulled on my hand and we started making our way downstairs. As soon as we got into the kitchen I shoved us both into the adjoining pantry, our breaths labored as we hid in the shadows frozen with adrenaline and anticipation. The footsteps reached the end of the stairs and made their way into the kitchen. They stopped for a few seconds and then continued until we herd the door leading outside open and close. I released a breath I had not noticed I was holding.

"That was close." definitely too close for my own liking.

Adjusting the bag she was carrying she turned to me. "Now, there is going to be a guard change in a few minutes. We have to make our way to the kitchen door and dash to the wall where the hydrangeas are. There is going to be a hole in the wall behind them so we can get out." She knew about the broken loophole. It had taken me years of exploration to find a viable way in and out of the palace grounds. How did she know? There was no noticeable way from the outside, the overgrown foliage took care of hiding it well, and I made sure never to leave a trail during my escapades.

"Who are you?" nothing about her made sense.

"I can't tell you that either," she hissed, "look," she whispered a little bit annoyed "lets just get out of here." I was stunned, no one had ever talked to me like that. Though, she did have a point. I guess. Then out of nowhere, her stomach rumbled so loudly it echoed. She blushed.

"I knew I should not have skipped dinner!" she whispered to herself.

"Here I have an idea." Without thinking I grabbed one of the baskets in the pantry and started filling it with some cheese, bread, and stuffing a random bottle of wine too. She gave me this weird confusing look.

"Steal food? I like that idea," she whispered excitedly. I tensed, then it downed upon me what we were doing, that she was probably a thief I was helping escape, that I did not know her, what she wanted, what she was doing sneaking around the castle, that I should be questioning her, calling the guards, not hiding with her. But something deep inside me told me to go along, to pretend, to see what happens. She sensed my hesitation and gave me a skeptical look. In a flash she had me against the wall with a dagger to my throat again.

"You have two options," she warned dangerously low, "either you cooperate and come along, or I'll cut your throat and be done with you."

Hot red anger flared within me, how dare she! "Oh, like you could do that, I would have the guards here in a second," I snapped back, not only that, if only she knew the years of training I had undergone since I was eight. I was letting her push me around, the moment things got serious I could snap her neck faster than it would take her to blink.

"You don't know what I'm capable of," she spit while lowering the dagger and letting me go. "I don't have time for this." In a second she was out of the pantry. Jumping into action I followed her. We tiptoed towards the door until I stepped on a creaky plank and we both froze mid stride. She looked back giving me the most threatening gaze I have received in my life, and continued out the kitchen door.

As we made our wat through the garden towards the fence I observed her. There was something about her I couldn't quite put my finger on, she was different from any woman I have ever met, I was sure of that. It made it difficult for me to form an opinion of her. For the first time I had no idea what to make of someone.