Summer played the dagger between her fingers. The metal glinted with the moon's silver glow.
It was a nice dagger, but she preferred her own.
Sneaking out of the inn was easier than she'd expected. They had guards posted in front of her door. But her window opened to the back of the inn where tree branches offered a better escape route.
She wasn't escaping, though. The threat to Rose was effective. She decided she would go to the capital with them, the witness would clear her of all suspicions, and then she'd come back to take care of Rose and Berry.
She only wanted to taste the fresh night of the woods and pick a few of her books to keep her company in the upcoming days. Being confined within four walls would drive her insane.
She took her time, strolling through the trees. The slight breeze gently grazed her skin. The sound of critters and the rustle of trees a comforting noise. The full moon's silvery fingers sneaked through the branches to paint the world in lustrous shades.
Breathing in the familiar earthy scent, Summer's heart was at peace. No four walls would ever be her home. Among the trees where free creatures roamed, this was where she would always belong.
The forest's animals were used to her by now. She knew how to read the woods' language and she kept away from the predators territories, so they never bothered her. The smallest of critters enjoyed her company, or rather, they enjoyed the little treats she sometimes brought along. A few smuggled nuts from the market stall always made the squirrels' day.
Today, however, she came empty handed. Her shed had seen no visitors, so the guards never found it. She picked up a few of the books she enjoyed, others she hadn't read yet, and her change of clothes, then went back to the inn. She didn't know yet how far she could push her captors' limits before they bound her hands and feet.
She climbed in the way she came out; the window was still open. But the room wasn't empty.
"Oh, you're back already," she said, jumping inside with the bag of books. She met the bewildered gaze of her captors and two guards and smiled. "You're early."
The guards stuttered, furious, but mostly humiliated. The giant man in charge ordered them out before they could curse her to the devil.
"Where have you been?" he asked, his dark eyes swallowing the light of the lantern.
"Brought some books to keep me company." She dumped the bag on the bed, then looked at the four people. "You know, I don't even know your names. Since we're going to be in each other's delightful company for the foreseeable future, I should at least know what to call you."
"You won't have to call us anything." The rudest man said, closing the window with a scowl after checking where Summer had climbed up. She remembered him being called Al.
"Well, then." She smiled at him, irritated. She was trying to make all their lives a bit easier. Rude asshole. "At least tell me your name so I won't have to think of you as the short jerk."
The woman was the only one who laughed as she sat down on the chair. The short jerk glared.
"The short jerk is Al," the woman said, "but you're free to keep thinking of him as you have been. I'm Ida. This is Felix, a medic, and the big guy is Leon."
"She will not call him Leon," Al said, looking at Ida in disbelief.
Leon, who was apparently a very important personality if she was too lowly a citizen to use his given name, intervened calmly. "Al, why don't you check with the inn owner for our evening meals?"
Al stomped out of the room after a parting glare in her honor.
"He doesn't really like me, does he?" Summer said.
"Well, you did steal his dagger," Ida said, looking rather pleased with the fact.
"You took mine, so it was only fair."
"Fair..." Leon mumbled, shaking his head.
Opening Summer's bag, he checked every single book as if expecting to find hidden weapons among their pages. He was gentleman enough to leave checking the clothes to Ida.
When he was done, he held out his hand to Summer. "The blade."
She sighed, but gave it to him. What a bother. She would just have to borrow one of theirs again until they gave hers back.
"Alright, Summer," Leon said, giving the dagger to the dark beauty. Ida. "This will be easier if you just cooperate. That means no stealing knives, and no sneaking out alone."
"I will. Under one condition," she said.
"You're not exactly in a position to negotiate," Ida said, her gaze draining of any hint of humor.
"I beg to differ. I could make the journey to the capital very difficult. It'll be easier on both of us if I go along willingly."
Leon opened the window and looked out for a moment. The silence ate at Summer's nerves. They didn't really have to do anything for her. They could simply bind her limbs and throw her on a horse. But she had to try. She couldn't just leave her friend behind to fend for herself.
Leon closed the window and looked at her. "Let's hear it."
"Rose," she said. "I want you to leave her enough money so she can take care of herself and her son. I'll pay you back as soon as I can, I promise."
The auburn haired man, Felix, cleared his throat. He looked distinctly uncomfortable.
"I see." Leon paused. "She will be taken care of. You shouldn't make promises you can't keep, however. How do you think you will pay me back if you're locked up in prison?"
"I will not be locked up in prison," she said. "The witness to the theft will no doubt clear me off."
"You seem very sure," Ida said.
"It's kind of difficult to forget someone with eyes like these," Summer pointed to her eyes. Thankful for the first time in her life for their distinctive color. "So yes, I'm quite certain he'll clear my name."
Leon's dark gaze pulled her in. It was like looking into a dark well. Deep. With no light in sight. And if you take a risk and jump in, you may drown.
He wasn't good looking like Al, neither was he gentle looking like Felix. His nose was hawkish, his black hair in unruly waves and his beard untamed. A scar cut through his left eyebrow, another one on his right cheekbone. His face was not of someone who'd led a comfortable life. The only word that came to Summer's mind was 'wild'. He was wilderness barely tamed.
"Maybe so," Leon said. "Maybe so."
Summer wasn't about to take him at his words. She didn't have even the slightest bit of respect for authorities. The fact that he'd used the threat on Rose to keep her a willing captive only proved that her mistrust in them wasn't misplaced.
She had to find a way to check with Rose and Berry, to see if they'd be fine. At least until she could get back from her journey.
***
From that point on, however, it proved difficult to sneak out. Apparently, Leon didn't trust her word any more than she trusted his. Wise man.
The following days were pure torture for Summer. They had her set up in a new room with a window as far away from trees as they could get. Guards were posted at her door and below her window. Even if she wanted to sneak out, she wouldn't have been able to.
Her chance came when one of the guards accompanied her to the women's washroom. It was a large room equipped with modern plumbing, toilet stalls and a bath section. The inn maids as well as the female guests used it.
Summer had just finished her business that morning when a maid walked in with a change of clothes. The maid pulled a partition to isolate one of the tubs, hung her clothes over the wooden partition and began filling the tub with steaming water.
Summer waited until the woman was well busy washing herself before snatching her clothes.
She changed quickly into the maid's uniform, pulled the cap over her hair and low on her eyes. She opened the door a crack. The guard was pacing back and forth, an impatient scowl on his face.
"Do it," Summer whispered to herself, the familiar jitters in her stomach. "Just do it."
It was one of those times when Boyd's lessons came in quite handy. As soon as the guard had his back to her, she crept behind him, struck him on a specific spot on his throat with the side of her hand. He tumbled to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
He was heavy, but she managed to pull him into a small alcove in the hallway. It wouldn't take much for him to be found, but she'd be long gone by then.
The guards around the inn didn't pay much attention to a maid walking out. Summer kept her eyes firmly on the ground and hurried along quietly and imperceptibly, to the orphanage.
Minutes later, she tapped on Rose's window. She had passed Leon and his companions in town. They were busy arguing with the magistrate in front of the prison. Still, Summer was careful enough to give them a wide berth.
Rose's eyes were saucer wide when she opened the window.
"Are you insane?! You escaped again! You promised them you wouldn't!" Rose whisper-yelled. Berry was not in his cot.
"Where's Berry?" Summer asked instead.
"He's in another room with the doctor." Rose locked the door. "You're lucky you found me here. We moved to a room on the first floor."
"What? Why?" Summer asked. She knew rooms on the first floor were more spacious and comfortable. They contained the headmaster's and the mistresses' rooms.
Rose sighed dreamily. "Felix said being in a larger, sunnier room would be better for Berry."
Summer raised her brows as she sat down on the cot. "Felix? You're on a first name basis already?"
"He's a doctor," Rose went on. "You won't believe what happened."
Sitting next to her, Rose proceeded to tell her all about how the headmaster had been paying the physician to quietly get rid of Berry. The medication they'd been feeding the boy the entire time was an addictive poison slowly killing him.
Summer was murderous. If she laid eyes on the headmaster at that moment, she would have cut him enough wounds to bleed to death, slowly and painfully.
"Where's the headmaster?"
"In prison, with the physician," Rose said. "They'll stay there until the committee arrives. Then they'll be dealt with accordingly. Felix said not to worry about them anymore. He also told me about your promise to Leon. Felix assured me he will keep his word, Summer. He already arranged for us to be well taken care of."
Summer was beginning to dislike Felix. "Is that so?"
"Yes, which is why coming here was stupid," Rose said pointedly.
"I don't trust them." Summer frowned at Rose. "And neither should you. You know people like them don't really care about people like us."
"Not every rich and powerful person is bad," Rose said quietly, picking at her green dress.
"Where did you get this notion? Don't be mistaken. They only want you as a reassurance so that I will cooperate. That damn pendant." Summer cursed.
"What pendant?" Rose asked. "You're not making any sense."
"Listen to me, Rose." Summer took her friend by the shoulders. "Don't trust them. If they're nice to you, that's good, take advantage of it. But don't trust them too much. They'll take me to the capital for a crime I didn't commit. When we arrive there, I will probably be cleared off. Meanwhile, take care of Berry and stay alive, alright? I just wanted to check on you one last time."
Rose smiled. "We'll be coming to the capital too in a few weeks. Once Berry is well enough. Felix said he could get a better treatment there."
Summer grew suspicious. "Huh?"
Rose laughed. "I know you're doubtful, Summer. But you should give them a chance. They're decent people. They haven't done anything to harm us. Quite the opposite, really."
"Well, they haven't done anything to gain my trust, either. So I'll stay doubtful if it's all the same to you," Summer said, her mind churning with all possibilities.
Why would they want to take Rose to the capital? It wasn't easy for Summer to believe they were doing it for the sake of Berry. Why hadn't Leon said anything about it?
It didn't matter, though. She would go to the capital, clear her name, and come back. Maybe if Berry was truly better and healthy by then, the three of them could finally leave this town. Maybe she'd look for a better place for them to live in her journey back here. Maybe.
***
She hadn't been gone long. Enough time for the guard to wake up. By the time he called for backup, Summer was in her room in her own clothes again, the maid's clothes neatly hidden under the bed.
She picked up a book and laid down on the cot, enjoying the wild activity outside her door. Not once did they check the room. They were too busy searching all over town for her. How very entertaining.
It was almost lunch time when the door to her room finally burst open. She looked up from her book at Leon and Al.
"Hey, there," Summer said. "Is it time for lunch?"
Leon pinched the bridge of his nose. "Go tell those idiots to stop searching."
Al, speechless, shook his head and did as ordered. Leon closed the door. "Where have you been?"
"When?"
"Now. Two hours ago."
"Here and there." She smiled.
A muscle ticked in his cheek. Uh-oh. She was making the big guy mad.
"In more details, if you will," he said, crossing his arms. He loomed over her like a mountain. She leaned her head back and stared at him.
"Let's see. I woke up, had breakfast in my room- thank you for the food, by the way- then went to the restroom. When I walked out, the guard had simply vanished. I got back to my room, picked up this book- a good read, if you're interested- and here we are."
Leon stared at her for a long moment. "The guard said he'd lost consciousness because you hit him from behind when he thought you were in the restroom."
"He knew it was me although he was hit from behind?" Summer wondered out loud. "Hmm. Interesting, don't you think?"
Leon walked to the window. He opened it, checked outside, then locked it again. "So I should believe you were here the entire time?"
"Let's see." Summer closed her book and sat up. "You're saying that I knocked the guard- a grown man twice my size, by the way- I knocked him unconscious, sneaked out somewhere for some reason, then sneaked back past all the guards and the inn's staff without anyone catching a glimpse of me? How very flattering, if you to think I'm capable of such a feat."
"A maid lost her clothes in the restroom," he said.
"And I'm responsible for that as well?" Summer laughed. "Maybe you should blame every single thing that goes wrong in town on me and be done with it. Oh wait. People already do that. Maybe you're beginning to think like them."
Leon held her gaze in silence. Summer kept her face as calm and expressionless as Boyd taught her. After a few seconds, Leon left. She didn't think he believed her- not entirely- but he could prove nothing.
She dropped back on the bed. She owed Boyd her life. For some reason, these days she was making good use of all his lessons.
Summer never knew what Boyd had done for a living. She did know he was a vagabond, though.
He appeared in town for the first time when she was seven. Her rotten luck reputation had started gaining momentum by then, and he happened to be passing down a street when a few of the bigger boys were ganging up on her.
She was weak from hunger and aching from the beatings. Boyd chased the boys away, gave her some food, and left. At least, he'd tried to.
For a seven year old who had never known kindness, Summer was immediately attached to Boyd. She followed him around town like a puppy. The only time she wasn't near him was when he sneaked back into the woods and she had to go to the orphanage for the night.
Her life changed one rainy afternoon. She had been caught stealing a loaf of bread after going hungry for days. The seller slapped her around a few times, took the bread away and left her limp in the streets. That was how Boyd found her.
From that moment onward, Boyd taught Summer every skill he was blessed with. He taught her sleight of hand and how to blend with the shadows. By the age of nine, she could survive off what she stole when she was kicked out of the orphanage and Boyd wasn't around to feed her.
He taught her the art of wielding a dagger like one's own hand. By the age of ten, Summer could pin a fallen leaf to its tree from hundreds of feet away.
He taught her how to live as part of the forest, to hunt when she needed to and to honor her prey. He taught her how to survive in the wilderness, by knowing herbs that nurture and those that harm.
Every time he came to town, he brought with him books and tales of a world foreign.
But most important of all, he taught her how to be a decent human being. No matter what new skill she learned from him, he always gave her a code of behavior to go with it.
Never steal unless you absolutely have to.
Never take a life, human or else, unless yours is at risk of peril.
And many more laws that formed Summer's moral compass. Without Boyd, Summer would have no doubt ended up dead, either physically or morally.
What he failed to teach her, Summer realized on the following days, was how to survive cooped up within four walls.
She was in prison- a luxurious one, sure, as she was fed three full meals a day, treated with courtesy and had her books for entertainment- but it was still prison, and she hated every second of it.
A guard was always in the room with her, two outside her door, and three down below her window. Not counting the ones patrolling the inn or the streets around it.
She was feeling both amused and annoyed. Amused that they taught a slip of a girl like her was so sneaky that she needed all that surveillance. And annoyed that there wasn't room to breathe.
She felt the walls closing in on her every time she closed her eyes. She barely slept at all.
By the third day after her escapade, she would have traded her finger for a stroll in the forest.
"It's probably punishment for every time I stole," she muttered to herself that morning. The guard in the room looked at her as if she was crazy. Which she would be if she spent any more time inside.
Fortunately, solace came after breakfast in the form of a dark skinned beauty.
"Gather up your belongings," Ida said, striding into the room. "We're leaving."
"Finally!" Summer cheered. She put her books in the bag and threw on her tattered cloak, then stood up, staring back at Ida.
"That's all?" the woman asked with a frown. Summer looked down at herself and nodded.
"You should've brought more clothes with you along with all those books when you sneaked out."
"I have everything I own in the bag," Summer said.
Ida looked at the small bag suspiciously and nodded. "Alright. Come along."
Summer was giddy with excitement. She barely noticed Ida taking her arm and leading her along.
The heat of the sun was a balm to her soul. She could finally breathe again, being outside. She paid no mind to the curious onlookers as they headed to the stables.
The three men were already waiting outside with their horses all packed up and ready to go. She was leaving town, Summer realized. For the first time in her life, she was venturing outside.
Even the fact that she was going as a prisoner couldn't temper her excitement.