Daye (complete)

The Dress

    DECIDE roundhouse kicked the prince out the door. He tried to get up and apologize, but she slammed the door shut and locked it, bracing herself against the wall, breathing heavily.

"What in the name of the Moone," she whispered.

Decide just wanted to get out. She was still in shock- entirely unsure of what had happened over the past hour. She'd watched the royal family's announcement about the festival, then a drunk Marh had tried to grope her, so she'd tried to flatten him. Guards intercepted her, and then the prince had arrived, for some reason mistaking her as the lost princess. Then the king had come down too and then she was brought into the castle... the sick queen confirmed she looked like her daughter, (which the huntress thought was total crap, as the princess had disappeared as a toddler. How can you recognize a toddler when they're 19? It made no sense.) and now Decide was forcefully dressed up and presented, then she fought with the royal family and the stupid priestess, and ran away, only to be walked in on by the crown prince as she was changing.

"I gotta escape..." she said to herself. What had happened to Luca after they'd taken her in? Had he returned to their inn? Or had he returned to the sorcerer's caravan to hang out with Petrouli? Or was he doing something else? She hoped he was safe.

After strapping on her weapons belt, she turned to the only window in the room. She pulled apart the luxurious curtains, and cursed when she discovered the window was a non-openable one. Curse the damn royals and their attention to safety in the damn guest rooms...

"Guess we'll have to do this the hard way," she smirked, then picked up a stepping stool. She threw it through the window, which shattered, bits of glass spilling everywhere. After kicking out the dangerous pokey bits of window that remained, she examined the fall distance. She appeared to be on the second floor- so, not that far. Aiming for a tall spruce bush a few feet away from under the window, she jumped out, pushing off with her feet at the last second so she fell straight down, and landed on her rump, the prickly plant poking her painfully.

She brushed herself off, then climbed off the bush. Adjusting her sword, she peered around her, searching for guards or the like that would impede her escape attempts. She saw no one. Strange, but lucky for her.

She ran across the open grass, stopping every so often behind a tree to check for pursuers. Strangely, there were none. This was too easy...

Finally she reached the tall wall that surrounded the castle. She backed up, and sprinted for it, jumping on the wall with both feet, propelling herself up, so she somersaulted in mid air and landed elegantly on her feet on top of the wall. Standing up from a crouch, she prepared to jump over to the other side, when a sudden clanking of metal made her stop short.

"Princess! Get down from there! It's dangerous!"

An old man wearing a butler's suit ran in between two armed guards, approaching from the direction of the castle.

"No thanks, geezer," Decide jumped off, tucking and rolling as she hit the ground, then took off sprinting down the street. But as she got closer and closer to the center of the city, the streets grew more and more crowded, and she had to slow to a brisk walk.

The people stared at her as she passed, which was unnerving. She hoped it wasn't because they recognized her as the 'missing' princess...

"There you are, sister!"

Orlan popped up in front of her, nearly scaring Decide out of her skin. Out of reflex she smacked him, and he stumbled back into the surprised citizens of Cyule. Cries of "The prince is here! The prince!" went up, and they moved out of the way, giving the two a wide berth. Soon they began to whisper "The princess! The princess is here!" too, angering Decide further.