Eren POV
Mikasa and Armin were suspiciously quiet when they headed outside the palace just a few minutes after sunset.
Mikasa's information regarding this group of people that might be able to help them could prove to be a trap or another source of power. No matter what it would turn out to be, Eren was convinced that it would be worth their time to either prove Mikasa's source wrong or find new allies.
Said source was walking in front of them, firmly holding a torch in her fragile hands that had yet to be lit.
"The guards can't see us if we take this route.", the girl whispered. "I know a way to get out without having to climb those walls."
Eren eyed her up and down, taking in her shabby clothing and the long hair simply braided on her back. She was a beauty, no doubt. But in nature all beauty was built to lure in and destroy.
"How do you know each other again?", he asked and looked over his shoulder to Mikasa, who avoided his gaze when she noticed his questioning gaze on her.
"Thank the work of a servant for that.", the girl answered in Mikasa's stead and smiled at him. Every step of hers was taken with a confidence Eren found he admired. She didn't hesitate until they reached the grey stones of the wall, surrounded by bushes and old trees on this side of the palace.
Eren remembered how his mother had always tried to get him to play out here with the other kids of royals visiting the palace. They played hide and seek and Eren could always hear their laughter, their joy.
He had tried to join them once.
It was his last time talking to someone of his own age.
"It must be around here somewhere.", the girl whispered. Kou was her name, if Eren remembered correctly from the brief introduction earlier that evening. They had met up in one of their rooms and while Eren didn't trust this girl, her words of loyalty seemed to be meant sincere. If only for the moment.
Kou crouched down in front of one of the bushes and just when Eren wanted to tell her that they should better head back and look for another way out of the castle, she made a triumphant noise and brushed some of the branches of the bush aside.
With an almost arrogant shrug she revealed a hole.
In the dark and probably not even during the light of day would anyone suspect it there. It was small enough that one person at a time could slip through it into the small tunnel that led outside the walls.
Darkness waited for them, decorated by the shadows that followed the sunset every day.
Armin swallowed loudly and took a step back.
"We...we really have to go through this...hole?", he asked with a shaking voice. Eren turned around and touched his shoulder reassuringly, giving his friend a soft smile. Armin was shivering and Eren knew that his claustrophobia was one of the reasons for that even though the cold was also doing a great job of torturing them in their less than warm clothes.
But they would have to make due until they reached their destination. Wherever that was.
"You'll be through it before you know it.", Kou said and pushed a few more branches out of the way after kneeling down next to the hole, her knees digging into the dirt beneath their feet. The earth was wet on this side of the palace, sticking to the girl's dress even if they couldn't properly see it in the darkness.
"We don't have much time.", Mikasa grumbled and sat down next to Kou. When the girl reached out to her, she flinched and quickly entered the tunnel on all fours. Eren furrowed his brow at the strange interaction.
"She's right." Kou cleared her throat and followed Mikasa with a last glance back at the two boys waiting for the girls to head out there first.
"I don't want to do this, Eren.", Armin whispered when Kou was gone from their sights and they were left alone. Wind brushed through the twigs of the trees around them and at every small noise, Armin shuddered with quivering lips.
Somehow, Eren wondered if the small hole was his only reason for hesitation.
"Hey, what's wrong, Ar?", he asked straight away and rested a hand on his friend's shoulder, pressing down gently until Armin was looking at him. "Sure you're okay?"
Armin sighed and brushed Eren's hand away.
"It's nothing. I just-"
"Then what's making you so nervous?" Eren watched him carefully. "Is your claustrophobia acting up again?"
"No. I mean, yes. But...", Armin stuttered and stopped talking, exhaling through his mouth and closing his eyes while searching for the right words. "Eren, I might...I might have made a mistake."
Eren was about to open his mouth, when suddenly the rattling of swords and dark voices came from afar, getting closer by the second. Eren narrowed his eyes and caught sight of the lanterns the guards often carried around with themselves.
He cursed and grabbed Armin's hand.
"We have to get out before they see us.", Eren hissed and waited impatiently until a quite shaking Armin was down on his knees and started his way through the tunnel with a small whimper. "I'm right behind you, don't you worry."
The noises came closer.
Too fast.
Eren bit his lip and hastily turned around, waiting for Armin to completely disappear in the tunnel so that he could follow them. He heard a soft sniffle and the hard breathing of his friend even from outside the tunnel but...he couldn't change it. They needed to get out of here.
The voices of the guards reached his ears.
He threw himself on the ground and crawled inside the tunnel, doing his best to pull some twigs and branches of the bush with his feet in his direction so that the tunnel was at least somehow hidden from unwanted eyes.
And the darkness greeted them with open arms.
- - -
The tunnel was nearly endless and Eren sighed thankfully when they finally emerged from the depths of the wall. They were greeted by Kou and Mikasa. Kou had her hands propped up against her waist and nodded when she saw Eren trying to regain his balance.
"Where are we going to meet them?", Mikasa asked as soon as both of her friends were safe and sound by her side. Armin looked pretty shaken up. He was shivering all over and his eyes had a hard time focusing on anything but the ground beneath his feet. Eren reached out and put Armin's hand on his arm, grounding him when it seemed like the boy was short of losing consciousness.
Meanwhile Kou raised her arm and pointed to one of the many mountains closest to the palace. The few rays of sunlight left behind shone down on it and wrapped it up in a golden shell.
Eren glanced over at Mikasa, who's lips had turned a soft shade of blue out here in the cold. Yet she would never shiver or show any sign of discomfort in the face of the year's coldest seasons arrival.
"They are waiting for us up there, hidden in a cave." She turned and directed her hard stare at the trio. "Staying down here in the forest was too dangerous. We couldn't afford to draw any attention on us. Not now."
"How are we supposed to get over there?" Eren tilted his head and inspected the great distance between the foot of the mountain and the trees that marked the border between cultivated land and the rest of Eldia. "It's going to take the whole night if we want to reach the mountain by foot."
"We can't stay here that long.", Armin said weakly. He was breathing quite hard and avoided looking back at the tunnel. The thought of going back that way appeared to frighten him more than the dangers outside of the walls. "If people notice that we are missing..."
"They won't.", Kou assured them. "We will get back soon enough. No one will know we have ever been away."
Mikasa raised an eyebrow and even though Eren tried to trust the girl despite all of his instincts telling him to be careful around a stranger, he wondered how she planned to get them back inside soon enough without them freezing to death out here.
Armin was shaking and Eren put an arm around his shoulder. Only then did he notice how thin his friend hat become. Inside his head he sighed. It was his fault that he was in such a poor condition.
"Eren, I might...I might have made a mistake."
He would have to ask him about this mistake later on when they were safe from curious eyes, served on a silver plate for everyone to see.
"Kou, stop playing around.", Mikasa hissed and crossed her arms in front of her chest. The soft wind was brushing through her dark strands of hair. She had apparently gotten rid of the band holding it together to get some warmth through them.
"I'm not.", the girl answered and turned around so that her back was facing the trio.
She raised two fingers to her lips.
Eren's eyes widened when he got what she was trying to do and frantically looked over his shoulder to see if any of the guards were close enough to hear them.
Then a high-pitched whistle tore the silence around them apart.
(Is Kou risking their safety or is she really trying to help them? What is she trying to achieve? And is Eren right to be cautious around her? And will Kou's allies be of help in the mystery of Eren's 'bird' problem?
What is going to happen next? Stay tuned!
Hope you liked the chapter and feel free to comment as often and in any way you like!)