ANGUIS

Chapter 29

The birds' chirp is what wakes her up.

She opens her eyes slowly, her eyelids heavy as she didn't get much sleep the night before. She had spent the entire evening overthinking their escape plan, looking for possible holes that could cost them their lives, but she didn't find any. Everything worked. Everything was perfect; they would go down the mountain with their brand new grapnel as soon as dusk would paint red and orange the mountains surrounding them and then, since they knew there were only two sentinels and four guards waiting for them at the gate that would lead them to freedom, they would slowly and attentively leap over the gateway and, if necessary, they would try to kill the guards.

Taylor exhales shakily as she sits up on her bed, her eyes gazing at the clear sky. Distant clouds were running towards them in a hurry and they shouldn't scare the blonde this much, but they do. They were gray and puffed up, holding a possible storm underneath the fluffy material of the clouds, but Taylor tilts her head to the side, not wanting to think about the possibility of their plan failing. This will work, she tells herself. She will get back to Karlie in no time, and she will be home safely sooner than she thinks, she hopes.

She wonders what Karlie is doing. She wonders if the brunette has started looking for her, since it's been a week since she's been missing, but she would have found her by now, right? Just the thought of the other girl not looking for her and not caring to find her gets her emotional, and in seconds she finds herself dabbing at misty and watery eyes. She loves you, of course she's looking for you. She just hasn't found you yet. A part of her subconscious tells her with a stern voice, scolding her. Maybe she has found someone else to love, someone who isn't a queen and isn't as complicated as you. The other part of her brain replies back. Taylor sighs deeply and puts her head on her hands, her elbows resting onto her knees. Her bottom lip trembles, and she doesn't know if it's because of the cold temperatures or it's because of the stinging tears that are threatening to escape from her closed shut eyes.

"Taylor?"

Agust's quiet and timid voice fills the silence and she's surprised to see him standing in front of her cell, along with Elio. They're both wearing a worried frown and when Taylor looks back to the sky, she realises that the night has fallen upon them and it was time to leave this place, this hell. She gets up and Agust opens the door for her, offering her the ghost of a smile. "It's time," he says softly.

Taylor nods. "It's time. Let's go,"

They walk quietly to the edge of the mountain and as soon as they find a good place, they hook their grapnel to the ground and throw the rope beneath them, watching it fall at the bottom of the mountain. "Who goes first?" Taylor asks.

Agust is the one to step forwards, and he grips the rope tightly as soon as he starts going down, afraid of letting go and falling. Elio and the blonde watch him with nervous eyes, and when he's about halfway, the other boy is the one to go down the mountain. When Taylor's turn comes, the Queen is nervous as she starts to descend with a pair of shaky hands gripping the grapnel tightly.

They reach the bottom safely and each one of them exhales deeply in sign of relief. "Okay," Taylor says, facing her two companions. "Now we slowly go down this path that will lead us to the gate, alright? We crouch down so if there are possible guards around they won't see us, since it's getting darker and darker. Try to not make any sort of noise. We can do this,"

They crouch down, following the path along the stone wall. Taylor stops abruptly when she spots a guard coming their way. "Wait," she says, putting a hand around Agust in order to stop the two boys. "Stay quiet," she warns in a whisper. They have bated breath as the blonde watches the enemy pass by them, his bow hitting his back lightly with each step he takes. When they're finally out of the woods, the Queen signals to her companions to follow her.

Taylor feels like they're walking on a thin line as they finally face the gate that would finally set them free. Her hands are shaking as she turns around to look at the two boys. "Okay," she begins. "This is the plan: I will go last and Elio will go first, so if there are any problems I will be able to defend all of us. Please, don't make any sudden move and make any type of sound. We don't want to alert them, alright?"

The two nods and they begin to walk forward. There are two hovels on each side of the gate. Two sentinels are in each terrace of each building while four guards are at the bottom to keep an eye around their surroundings. In order to climb over the gray gate, they need to reach the roof of one of the hovels and jump to the other side; they won't hurt themselves since it's not that high and the landing won't be too hard because of the fluffy snow on the ground.

When they're inside the left hovel and are about to climb the stairs to reach the top, Agust's foot accidentally makes the hardwood floor creak. They halt their movements and a light curse escapes from his lips when his gaze meets the sentinel's.

"Fugitives!" the guard screams, immediately aiming at the Asiatic boy with his bow.

"Agust, move!" Taylor screams, dragging the clumsy boy up the stairs. The arrow finishes on the wall, however it brushes against Agust's shoulder, creating a deep wound that would soon start bleeding. He hisses harshly, covering the bruise with his dirty right hand and lets Taylor help him climb over the gate as they finally reach the roof.

The Queen finds a knife on the floor and without thinking throws it quickly towards the sentinel, hitting him right on the chest. The guard falls on the floor unconscious, and that buys them some time. Elio is the second to leap over the gate, falling on the other side with a grunt and immediately helping the other boy up.

At this point, Taylor is trying to overcome a guard's strength as he tries to make her fall to the ground, his filthy fingers wrapped around her forearms. However, the Queen is stronger than him and fortunately she hits him on the abdomen with her knee, making him stumble on the floor.

She benefits from this slight pause and swiftly climbs over the gate, descending upon the snowy terrain with a thud.

When she stands up, they start running away from the dangerous gate. However, their luck is short lived as they run across a blizzard. They push against the strong wind and the snowflakes hitting their faces harshly. Taylor is forced to stop when Elio falls to the ground, not having enough strength to fight against the storm. "Elio, come on, we need to go," she says but she doesn't know where they are running to. They don't have a destination in mind and Taylor tries to not think about it much.

In the end, Agust and the blonde had to drag the unconscious boy with them, each one of them grabbing one of his limp arms.

"I can't," the other boy says breathlessly. "Taylor, I can't do this," he continues. When the blonde looks at him she's surprised to see his usually bright face look so emotionless, his eyeslids seeming heavy and his hands trembling.

"No, Agust. You can. You can do this. We'll be home soon," Taylor replies, however she knows she's lying and she knows that Agust is aware of her blatant lie. "Do this for your sister, Agust."

Agust shakes his head although there's a small smile on his face at the mention of his sibling. "I'm sorry," he says, before dropping Elio's arms and falling on his knees.

"Agust!" Taylor exclaims, letting go of Elio. She tries to drag along the two boys but she's too weak and they're too heavy. Black spots start to appear in front of her eyes and she knows she's about to faint. She knows she's about to fall on the ground and God knows what will happen to the three of them when that will happen.

Taylor is able to transport the unconscious bodies for only about two minutes, before her knees give out and everything goes black, her body falling against fluffy and ice cold snow.