The Red Rose

Chapter 14

The clock ticked loudly in the total silence of my room - not even a leaf dared rustle tonight. It was almost midnight and my nerves were in frails. I had yet to come up with a secure way to leave the house without being seen. I could use the roof as we did as kids, but there were guards around the entire mansion – someone would see me! There were no blind spots that I could see, no sudden change in the guard that would give me an opening. These were all experienced men, I could not distract them with subtle noises or elaborated plans – also, I had no time and it was only me.

Suddenly, the first stroke of midnight banged around the mansion, and my heart quickened its beat – I had one hour, daddy said, one hour to get to my companions and to leave. I was about to make a desperate attempt to jump off the balcony when a loud bang rumbled across the island. I gasped as I saw the Cassandra, Governor Westford's beloved ship, blow into a million pieces, the debris flying across the port, the alarm sounding, smoke and flames going up into the beautiful summer sky. A big cloud of smoke started covering the port, the guards started running around like headless chickens and decided that most of them should go down to the port and help. On the fourth stroke of midnight, another ship blew up, and I heard servants inside the house scream. This time, some windows broke and there was glass everywhere – I covered my face with my hands as my own windows blasted.

This was it, I realised, what daddy had said: our window. I pulled the hood down my head, tucked my hair in, strapped the small gear to my back, and jumped to the roof. It took me only a few minutes by horse to get to the safe area where I should meet this Azura woman, by foot it would take me at least half an hour!

"C'mon, Rose!" I told myself, as I sneaked through the back gate and ran up the hill "C'mon!"

I was breathing heavily, as I raced through the deserted path, the palm trees and vegetation, praying to whatever god keeping watch at this late hour to protect me. I never, not once, looked back; I didn't really need to, as the smell of smoke filled my nostrils and the air, I was already coughing. With such a cloudy horizon, nobody would notice a ship of pirates swiftly leaving the opposite end of the bay – at least, I hoped so.

I jumped and screamed, quickly showing a dagger hidden on my hip, to a stranger that leapt from a tree and blocked my path.

"Easy!" A female voice whispered, taking the bandana around her mouth and showing a Hispanic looking beautiful young woman "You must be Rose. I'm Azura."

"Jesus... I... I could've killed you" I muttered.

"I seriously doubt that." She snorted and gestured quickly for me to follow her "C'mon, I have the horses just up ahead. We must be quick."

"My father told me we have one hour to leave" I quickly informed her, as she pulled two horses from the vegetation.

"Good thing we only need ten minutes" She winked a brown eye, before luring the horse to the path.

We rode fast through the heavy vegetation. A lot of guards went down the main road to join the commotion, and we had to stop a handful of times to hide, be quiet and not get caught. My heart was on my throat, I could barely breathe, and all I could think about was that this path had never seemed so long before!

"Almost there" Azura informed, pointing to the steep road ahead, going down to the small bay.

There was a boat there, a small paddled boat with a man inside. He was armed up to his teeth, and he carried a lantern. I recognised the hat and never imagined I would be this happy to see Sylas again. When we left our horses, I ran to the man and hugged him tightly.

"Carino, it's so good to see you!" He smiled, responding to my hug.

The two of them started discussing in Spanish, and I could understand that they were making sure nobody followed them. As they both agreed it was time to go, Sylas pushed the boat to the water.